Question Time

PUBLIC SECTOR LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Education. When cabinet agreed to change the Public Sector Act to allow public servants to cash out their long service leave entitlements, was he fully aware of its implications, and, if so, why didn't he tell cabinet or the then treasurer about the significant financial implications of the change?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:24): I have no responsibility to the house for those matters, but what I can say is that—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is obvious that those opposite do not want to go anywhere near the education agenda. We have had absolutely no—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: In three days of question time—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Three days of question time, and they do not go anywhere near the education agenda—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —because they realise—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The opposition have asked a question. If they do not want to hear the answer, leave the chamber.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, we have had three days of question time—after a rather long break. The announcement of one of the most significant—

Mr WILLIAMS: I have a point of order, Madam Speaker. It is up to the minister to answer the question, not to propose what sort of questions we should be asking him. He is not going anywhere near the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: I will not uphold that point of order. Minister, I direct you to answer the question.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I am sure he is getting there. Minister.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, I am happy to answer questions for which I am responsible to the house, and that is on matters of education. In relation to education, in the last budget we managed to provide for the education system an extra $203 million—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop.

Mr WILLIAMS: I have a point of order, Madam Speaker. The minister is directly disobeying your ruling.

The SPEAKER: No, I think his answer is relevant to the question you have asked.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Absolutely. Madam Speaker, these are questions that go to the budget. The budget involved an extra $203 million that was voted for the education system. That will be an extra 700 teachers and like service officers, etc.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order. The Leader of the Opposition.

Mrs REDMOND: Madam Speaker, the minister is clearly going nowhere near the answer to the question that was asked. If he wants, I can redirect the question elsewhere, but I say he should answer.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: What point of order is that?

Mrs REDMOND: Relevance.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, they direct the question to me and they are going to get the answer that I am giving them. If they do not like that, they might want to have a bit of a think about how they organise their tactics in question time. We have had—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: In a very difficult budget an extra $203 million was found for the education system. There are 700 extra teachers and like staff going into the education system in this state. I know that those opposite describe public education as rotten to the core and they have no commitment to public education, but on this side, even when we are framing difficult budgets, our priorities are absolutely clear, and they remain education, health and the security of our citizens.