Page 1829 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 May 1990
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to me that it has been carefully thought out. He is the Minister for planning.
Mr Jensen: No, I am not.
Mr Kaine: He is not a Minister for anything.
MR WOOD: All right; Executive Deputy. I must apologise for that. It is clear that this whole exercise makes sense. I suppose it is viable economically only when school sites are sold off.
Mr Jensen: What about the community facilities? You did not mention them.
MR WOOD: Well, you do not seem to have an interest in those community facilities. You do not want the scouts to go into the schools. You want them to walk two, three or four kilometres to a school that has not been closed at the time they usually use the facility, which is between 5.00 pm and 8.00 pm or thereafter. That seems to be what you want to do with them.
Mr Humphries, what the Opposition requires from you is this: first, we want an accurate statement of the money savings, if any, that will come from school closures. We want that for individual schools and for the whole system. That is not a difficult task, and we require you to do that. Secondly, we would like a clear statement of the budget requirement that you have to meet. I can understand that with this Government, as opposed to the Follett Government, your Treasurer might be a little reluctant to do that.
Mr Kaine: We will tell you in September when the budget is brought down.
MR WOOD: But if you will not give us that - and I expected your response - at least give us an indication that you have been told a figure or that you know a figure, because there has been no indication in the debate that you have even been given a figure to work to.
Your vague and alarmist statements are no substitute for effective management. We want you to be able to demonstrate that you know where you are going with your closures. Let me give an example of Mr Humphries' or this Government's approach - and I think this is pretty typical. Mr Humphries said that money would be available from the sales of schools; capital would be available to refurbish other schools where children were relocated. I think that is a fair assessment. That is cannibalism. That is what they do in Third World countries. That is what they do where their resources are so run down that they have to knock something down to put it somewhere else. You are destroying facilities to sustain other facilities, and that is a nonsense.
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