EDUCATION ASSISTANTS —
ROYALTIES FOR REGIONS FUNDING
248. Hon JACQUI BOYDELL to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I refer to the minister's
comment during debate on a motion moved by me on 14 March that royalties for
regions funding for the boarding away from home allowance was not a permanent
arrangement and was a temporary measure.
(1) Are education assistants
employed using royalties regions funding a temporary measure?
(2) If so, why
has the minister not made those education assistants permanent by paying their
salaries from the education budget?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
(1)–(2) The
honourable member has asked a version of this question before and I gave the
answer then that I am going to give her now. We made an election commitment and
declared how we would fund it. We made that known to everybody. For eight
years, the previous government was lobbied by the Isolated Children's
Parents' Association and others to make the BAHA arrangements permanent
and it did nothing.