Mr GUNNER - 2013-08-21
Yesterday, your conservative colleague, Premier Colin Barnett, admitted that schools in Western Australia could be closed to save money on the same day as 500 education staff were told they would lose their jobs. When will you advise teachers of the staffing cuts foreshadowed under your new student/teacher formula, which schools will be hit and how many more jobs will be lost? Or will you wimp out again and hide the extent of job cuts until after the federal election?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am not sure what the member for Fannie Bay is talking about. I am not sure whether he is talking about the budget or some other harebrained idea Labor has come up with.
What I can talk to you about is the Gonski model proposed by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, if that is what is being referred to. Under the Gonski model, it is proposed …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We are talking about the Country Liberal Party …
Madam SPEAKER: What is your standing order?
Mr GUNNER: Standing Order 113: relevance. We are talking about the new student/teacher formula, otherwise known as the effective enrolment formula, and how many jobs will be lost under that?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, these guys must have been asleep during estimates because this was spoken about completely at estimates. We are putting another 60 teachers into early childhood teaching to ensure kids get a good start in life, so to …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Principals are still waiting on the advice. I do not understand how it could have been discussed at estimates if principals still do not know.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, there is no point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can the Chief Minister at least get one sentence into his answer before they start calling relevance; it is hardly fair and not appropriate in …
Madam SPEAKER: Please sit down, member for Port Darwin.
Mr GILES: What many people do not know about the Gonski model proposed by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard was that where they said it was a 2:1 offer; we put one in, they put two in …
Ms Lawrie interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Karama, cease interjecting!
Mr GILES: We were asked to put in $106m and they would put in $193m ...
Ms Lawrie: How many teachers are going?
Ms Fyles: Nightcliff Middle School 19:11.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Nightcliff.
Mr GILES: Wrong!
Ms Lawrie: Casuarina Senior College.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, I remind you that you are on a warning. Cease interjecting!
Mr GILES: Under that model it was not quite 2:1, but the Commonwealth set a model up called the School Resourcing Standard, or the SRS, which made an assessment about how much money is spent in the Northern Territory. They made the wrong assessment in that model, then they were asking us to put in an extra $106m. It meant we would have to put in $652m as part of the Gonski approach - $652m over the forward estimates - then into 2018-19 beyond the forward estimates, as they like to do the modelling, back ending the deal so it cannot be seen on the books.
This was a bad option for the Northern Territory, so we spent much time negotiating a better model, a better financial outcome. We got to just over $300m the Northern Territory would have to put in. That $300m was too much. When we have a $5.5bn debt we cannot put in an extra $300m; it is not possible.
The other component with Gonski was they were going to build a bureaucracy of between 1000 and 2000 bureaucrats in Canberra who would make every school in the Northern Territory, the most independent jurisdiction in the country, report on a weekly basis, and then tell the schools how to run their business. These are the most independent schools in the country, with Victoria following closely behind us. It was terrible.
Looking at the funding model from Canberra, they made an assessment about what schools deserved. When you go through the list of schools and what they deserved, Darwin High School was recommended to have a $12.861m reduction; Anula Primary School, a reduction of $10m; Berry Springs Primary School a $705 000 reduction, Katherine School of the Air a $3m reduction ...
Ms Lawrie: You are misleading parliament on the …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired. Opposition Leader …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Wait! Opposition Leader, withdraw that statement, please, in regard to misleading parliament.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw. They are not the figures …
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! During that last response and previous ones …
Madam SPEAKER: What is your standing order, member for Fong Lim?
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, the interjections coming from the Opposition Leader and the nasal screeching is beyond the pale.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down. There is no point of order.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am not sure what the member for Fannie Bay is talking about. I am not sure whether he is talking about the budget or some other harebrained idea Labor has come up with.
What I can talk to you about is the Gonski model proposed by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, if that is what is being referred to. Under the Gonski model, it is proposed …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We are talking about the Country Liberal Party …
Madam SPEAKER: What is your standing order?
Mr GUNNER: Standing Order 113: relevance. We are talking about the new student/teacher formula, otherwise known as the effective enrolment formula, and how many jobs will be lost under that?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, these guys must have been asleep during estimates because this was spoken about completely at estimates. We are putting another 60 teachers into early childhood teaching to ensure kids get a good start in life, so to …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Principals are still waiting on the advice. I do not understand how it could have been discussed at estimates if principals still do not know.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, there is no point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can the Chief Minister at least get one sentence into his answer before they start calling relevance; it is hardly fair and not appropriate in …
Madam SPEAKER: Please sit down, member for Port Darwin.
Mr GILES: What many people do not know about the Gonski model proposed by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard was that where they said it was a 2:1 offer; we put one in, they put two in …
Ms Lawrie interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Karama, cease interjecting!
Mr GILES: We were asked to put in $106m and they would put in $193m ...
Ms Lawrie: How many teachers are going?
Ms Fyles: Nightcliff Middle School 19:11.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Nightcliff.
Mr GILES: Wrong!
Ms Lawrie: Casuarina Senior College.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, I remind you that you are on a warning. Cease interjecting!
Mr GILES: Under that model it was not quite 2:1, but the Commonwealth set a model up called the School Resourcing Standard, or the SRS, which made an assessment about how much money is spent in the Northern Territory. They made the wrong assessment in that model, then they were asking us to put in an extra $106m. It meant we would have to put in $652m as part of the Gonski approach - $652m over the forward estimates - then into 2018-19 beyond the forward estimates, as they like to do the modelling, back ending the deal so it cannot be seen on the books.
This was a bad option for the Northern Territory, so we spent much time negotiating a better model, a better financial outcome. We got to just over $300m the Northern Territory would have to put in. That $300m was too much. When we have a $5.5bn debt we cannot put in an extra $300m; it is not possible.
The other component with Gonski was they were going to build a bureaucracy of between 1000 and 2000 bureaucrats in Canberra who would make every school in the Northern Territory, the most independent jurisdiction in the country, report on a weekly basis, and then tell the schools how to run their business. These are the most independent schools in the country, with Victoria following closely behind us. It was terrible.
Looking at the funding model from Canberra, they made an assessment about what schools deserved. When you go through the list of schools and what they deserved, Darwin High School was recommended to have a $12.861m reduction; Anula Primary School, a reduction of $10m; Berry Springs Primary School a $705 000 reduction, Katherine School of the Air a $3m reduction ...
Ms Lawrie: You are misleading parliament on the …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired. Opposition Leader …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Wait! Opposition Leader, withdraw that statement, please, in regard to misleading parliament.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw. They are not the figures …
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! During that last response and previous ones …
Madam SPEAKER: What is your standing order, member for Fong Lim?
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, the interjections coming from the Opposition Leader and the nasal screeching is beyond the pale.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down. There is no point of order.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016