Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

The government at this point in time will not be agreeing to the amendments, although I note Senator Crossin’s comments in her presentation in the second reading debate in relation to the letter that she has received from the minister. On behalf of the government, I can confirm the in-principle support for the provision of services out of Christmas Island District High School.

There are some issues, however, that we are currently negotiating with the Western Australian Department of Education and Training. Also, the Department of Education, Science and Training has been discussing with the Department of Transport and Regional Services ways in which this recommendation could be implemented. So some work is being done in relation to that. There are some complex administrative issues that are associated with this recommendation which we are currently working on. We anticipate that amendments to these bills to implement this recommendation could be brought forward in a further amendment bill in 2007 once the administrative matters that we are dealing with have been resolved.