Mr TOYNE - 1997-05-01
Why did the Country Liberal Party administration cut vocational education and flexible delivery programs at Batchelor, Centralian, and NT Rural Colleges? Two days ago, these were the very areas that the minister was boasting about in his statement on Territory training. Why has he cut these programs at a time when the colleges are spearheading the crucial skills development necessary for continued growth of the Territory's economy?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I wonder what would satisfy the member for Stuart. There are absolutely no negatives at all. The budget of NTETA has been increased by $6m or $8m - I forget the exact figure. I will talk about that later today. However, it will have $6m or $8m more to facilitate its delivery of training programs, among them the flexible response programs that the member refers to.
This morning, the union has been bemoaning the fact that an extra $21m has been allocated to the education budget this year. We still have the highest per capita expenditure in Australia for education, and the union is ...
Mr Bailey: What is the percentage of the budget spent on education? Get your figures right, Fred, your own budget figures.
Mr FINCH: Let me assure the member for Wanguri that, regardless of whose figures he uses ...
Mr Bell: They are yours!
Mr FINCH: Why does he not use the union's figures ...
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Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: Why does he not use the Australian Education Union's own figures which demonstrate clearly that the Northern Territory CLP government spends 50% more per capita than the next-highest-spending state? There is no doubt about who is doing the right thing by our young people in this country, and that applies to whichever program you look at - the computer programs, the training programs or the school education programs. We are a mile in front in all of them.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I wonder what would satisfy the member for Stuart. There are absolutely no negatives at all. The budget of NTETA has been increased by $6m or $8m - I forget the exact figure. I will talk about that later today. However, it will have $6m or $8m more to facilitate its delivery of training programs, among them the flexible response programs that the member refers to.
This morning, the union has been bemoaning the fact that an extra $21m has been allocated to the education budget this year. We still have the highest per capita expenditure in Australia for education, and the union is ...
Mr Bailey: What is the percentage of the budget spent on education? Get your figures right, Fred, your own budget figures.
Mr FINCH: Let me assure the member for Wanguri that, regardless of whose figures he uses ...
Mr Bell: They are yours!
Mr FINCH: Why does he not use the union's figures ...
Page 2112
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: Why does he not use the Australian Education Union's own figures which demonstrate clearly that the Northern Territory CLP government spends 50% more per capita than the next-highest-spending state? There is no doubt about who is doing the right thing by our young people in this country, and that applies to whichever program you look at - the computer programs, the training programs or the school education programs. We are a mile in front in all of them.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016