House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time National Literacy and Numeracy Tests NATIONAL LITERACY AND NUMERACY TESTS Mr PISONI House of Assembly Unley NATIONAL LITERACY AND NUMERACY TESTS Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:18): Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I certainly hope the Premier is reporting the conduct of that electrical retailer to consumer and business affairs. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Unley, this is not an opportunity to make a comment. Mr PISONI House of Assembly Mr PISONI: My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Why has South Australia for the second year running failed to meet the national average of NAPLAN scores in all 20 testing categories? The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly Hartley Minister for Education and Child Development The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:19): I am very happy to answer this question and report that the vast majority of South Australian students continue to achieve at or above the minimum standards in all areas, with over 90 per cent of students achieving at or above this benchmark. In fact, this year's NAPLAN results have shown significant improvements in years 3 and 5 spelling and year 7 grammar and punctuation, while our years 7 and 9 means are much closer to the national mean, which indicates a catch-up effect in our later years' results. In fact, our results for this year demonstrate that we have stayed the same or made improvements in 12 out of 20 categories. Can we stop for a moment— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —to contemplate the prospect of future NAPLAN testing with 25,000 fewer public sector workers?