❓ Question on government's commitment to literacy standards in WA state schools. The Minister details initiatives like the $28 million investment in literacy and numeracy experts, the Premier's Summer Reading Challenge, and the Premier's Teacher of the Year Award, while also criticising the previous government's budget management.
AnsweredQoN 675Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
As we are celebrating Education Week, will the minister please advise the House of the Government’s commitment to literacy standards in state schools? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
Mr Speaker - Mr C.J. Barnett: Don’t swear. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: Mr Speaker - Mr C.J. Barnett: Don’t swear. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr Speaker - Mr C.J. Barnett: Don’t swear. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Don’t swear. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: Mr Speaker - Mr C.J. Barnett: Don’t swear. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr Speaker - Mr C.J. Barnett: Don’t swear. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Don’t swear. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I will not turn up drunk in the middle of the night at an Aboriginal boy’s hostel. Point of Order Mrs C.L. EDWARDES: That matter has been explained to this House and it is totally incorrect. I ask that the minister withdraw Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: I am unclear to which member of the House the member for Kingsley thinks the matter has been directed. Perhaps she should explain which member of the House might take offence at that assertion. The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The SPEAKER: Order! It is unclear to me how that particular comment is unparliamentary given it was not directed at any specific member. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr C.J. Barnett: How sleazy is the Labor Party! Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Several members interjected The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education and Training has the call. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I thank the member for his question. When the Labor Party took office, a major issue that confronted us was the literacy and numeracy levels in government schools. It was clear that, although good information was being gathered through the West Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment data, no work was being done to remediate the situation based on the data collection. Therefore, in an effort to address that issue, the Government made a commitment to spend $28 million over four years on placing 200 experts in literacy and numeracy in those schools in which they were most needed. Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Anecdotal feedback indicates that this is the most significant initiative to be implemented in our four-year term. It was complemented last year when the Premier announced the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Western Australian children to read during their summer holidays. That too was an outstandingly successful initiative. He also announced the Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition to promote reading and to reward students who were improving their skills. The Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition is a great idea and I congratulate him on initiating it. Last week 19 finalists in that competition were announced. We subsequently announced that O’Connor Primary School in Kalgoorlie was the winner of the inaugural Premier’s Reading School of the Year competition. That school received $5 000 in reading resources towards its library and to promote literacy. It was interesting that at that outstanding school 14 of the 20 finalists across the board, including O’Connor Primary School, are in the Getting It Right Program; that is, the literacy and numeracy program. We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
We are also promoting excellence in state schools through rewarding effort and excellence in teaching with the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award. This too has been a very significant initiative, and it will become an even more significant initiative as years go by. The hundreds of teachers and TAFEWA lecturers who are finalists have already received $1 000 each for being nominated. The overall winner of that award will receive $25 000, and an inaugural title will be announced in December. Of the schools in receipt of assistance through the Getting it Right Program, 40.7 per cent are in country schools, which have 28.6 per cent of the year K to 7 students. We are therefore concentrating heavily on country areas, where we believe the issue is greater. The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The same initiative has been implemented for numeracy. An interesting numeracy exercise for students is to calculate the amount by which the previous Minister for Education blew the education budget. It is a very interesting mathematical exercise. The amount of $300 million was overspent on the budget in four years. That means that, in the past four years of the previous Government, the former minister was overspending his budget by $75 million a year or $6.25 million a month. The previous education minister was so inept at managing his budget that he was overspending it by $1.4 million a week. In fact, he was overspending his allowance by $205 000 a day. The under Treasurer must have turned white every time he turned up for work with that sort of fiscal irresponsibility in a major spending portfolio. Incidentally, that adds up to budget overspending of $8 540 for every hour of every day of every week of every month for four years. This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
This Government’s initiatives for literacy and numeracy will be shown over a long period to be outstandingly beneficial to Western Australian students. The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
The SPEAKER: Order! I say to members across the House that if there is a gap in noise level, that is not an indication that some of the usual suspects should make a comment, even if they think it is the funniest comment they can muster. It is not an appropriate way to behave in this House. I call the member for Perth to order for the second time.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.