DISABLED STUDENTS

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (14:29): Supplementary, Madam Speaker. The minister preferred in her answer to talk about how Professor Gonski was supporting the idea of support for every school and every student in every school. My question is—

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: My point of order is that if the member seeks to explain a question he should seek the leave of the chamber, not launch into a speech on his question.

Mr GARDNER: This is supplementary to the answer just given, and I'd finished that. My question is—

The SPEAKER: But you do that after the question, member for Morialta.

Mr GARDNER: My question is: can the minister explain why the Gonski review criticised—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr GARDNER: —the South Australian government for coming dead last in support for students with a disability.

The SPEAKER: That is a separate question. Minister, do you want to answer that question?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:30): In fact, we are very proud in South Australia that our definition—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Our definition of what we consider to be disability is incredibly broad, so broad that it actually brings in many more students than other states do, but the notion of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Morialta, order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: This notion of supporting students with disabilities is something that goes to the very heart of the Gonski reforms and we support this. In South Australia, as I said, our definition of supporting students with disabilities is much broader than most other states, which means that we support—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Madam Speaker!

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —we support many more students, and we are very proud of that—not to mention our efforts in the NDIS, something we are very proud of.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mitchell.