By Sue Bull
CANBERRA — Throughout the ACT election campaign, the local Liberals have been trying to distance themselves from the Howard government. They've promised not to sack any more ACT employees and to use the $5 million of unspent redundancy money on job creation, health, education and other programs.
But on February 11, these supposedly small "l" Liberals, led by Chief Minister Kate Carnell, released a policy which allocates more than half of the $900,000 promised for education to non-government schools. Carnell says this is because Canberra has the highest proportion — one in three — of private school students in Australia.
The next day, the steering committee for the Review of Commonwealth-State Service Provision released a report showing that the ACT has the highest number of students per teacher in government primary schools in Australia. In secondary schools, the ACT is equal second with four other states.
The ACT was second only to Victoria in a four-year trend towards fewer teachers in classes. The ACT spent the second highest amount of money on government school students, but had the second lowest increase in funding since 1992. The report also found that the ACT has the largest primary schools in the country, with an average of 325 students.
The Carnell Liberals are clearly committed to the private sector. Their education policy makes a lie of any stated commitment to equity and the public sector. Why, if the resources currently available to private schools are so inadequate, do the very rich send their children to elite private schools?