Mr BEVIS (5:49 PM) —I rise in the adjournment debate to express the concerns of my constituents about the lack of support that has been available for those who are unemployed. In my electorate, as in all electorates, we have seen the social security offices close. The CES office has closed. We had a glaring example of the shortcomings of this government's system with their new service providers in my electorate when about 200 metres down the road from a CES office that had been closed a provider opened its doors. This provider in fact opened its doors in the local suburban soccer club bar. The provider used to open the doors in the morning, get a collapsible table and put it in the bar area, plug a phone in and put it on the pinball machine and do the same with the fax machine that was on a little trolley.

That became the venue for unemployed people in that area of Mitchelton in my electorate to gain support—a wholly and totally unsatisfactory situation, in stark contrast to a very well-equipped and well-resourced CES office that was just down the road and in a building that was about four or five years old. Sadly the services now provided by Centrelink have been cut. We have a situation in which I think the government is willing Centrelink to fail. Its resources have been diminished. I know that the people who work in Centrelink, who are people of goodwill and have a commitment to help the unemployed, are finding the stress and frustration of that very demanding.

In particular, I want to raise the plight of one of my constituents, Mr Cliff Hunter. Mr Hunter is a mature person who is illiterate—he is unable to read. His wife wrote a letter for him, which he brought to me a little while ago. I want to read what he had to say. It was a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, although I will say in advance that he gives both sides of politics a touch up, but it would do us all good to think about it. The letter states:

Your policy on reading and writing leaves a lot to be desired. My name is Cliff Hunter, I am 44 years of age, I have been in the workforce since I was 13 years of age. I cannot read or write, due to the fact that I was neglected at school and shunned by my peers, because of my inability to learn the basic skills as in reading and writing.

I bring to your attention the interview on a Current Affair, with your Minister, Mr. Kemp, and his blatant refusal on National Television to spell the word `accommodation'. He told the interviewer Mike Munro he would not play his little game. When asked to spell this word, is his refusal to spell this word justified. Has Mr Kemp got something to hide? Does he find it difficult to spell a word which a 13 year old child can spell with little difficulty?

Mr Howard it is a well known fact that all members of any Government have a Secretary who take dictation, probably in shorthand and proceeds to write this letter on a computer which is enhanced by having a spelling check in its program. Consequently, the computer would be basically writing the letter for you, with no errors being made.

My own belief is that, the classes are too large, and some of the students who are experiencing learning difficulties are neglected to a certain extent, and seem to be always playing catch up, which is not how an education system should be operated.

In my view, I believe that a child who is experiencing learning difficulties, for whatever reason, should have one on one teaching in a separate class to enable them to catch up on basic learning skills, thus, giving them the opportunity which they would not otherwise have. My own 8 year old son is an example of what I have just mentioned. He is in a class of 20 plus students, and has a certain amount of difficulty in understanding the basic requirements as in reading and writing.

We have had to get him a tutor to enable him to keep up with the other children in his class, out of our own pocket. Your Government gives a lot of financial support to the Private Schools, and it seems to be that our "free" public schools are being left to battle on with a minimum of resources and basic funding, whereas the private schools seem to have a lot more opportunities.

It seems that the Politicians and those more fortunate than "Joe average" are in the financial position where they can have the best education for their children. Someone who is surviving on $30 000 per year just does not have the ability to shell out $5 000—$10 000 per year on a private education for their child/children.

As far as I am concerned, all you Politicians are not much better than legalised criminals, your new code of conduct rules are nothing but a joke. Because, last year, all your Ministers that were ripping off their expense accounts from Tax Payers money, have a lot to answer for. The only reason why you have changed your Code of Conduct is to protect your Ministers.

I doubt that I will have time to complete the letter, and I will seek the opportunity to do that at a later time. This constituent of mine has a lot more commonsense than many other people who would claim an education. It is an affront to him and many others to say that they are to be denied support if they fail to pass some literacy test. He is not illiterate by choice. He does not wish to be unable to read or write. It happens to be the outcome of a childhood that neglected his potential.