Page 2425 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 7 August 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Mr Kaine today. The OECD may be considered a group of sensible people. The report would certainly be considered, I think, to be made up by sensible people, and no, Mr Kaine, you are wrong. That is not the case. The report makes it quite clear that it is not a sensible option to close schools.
Mr Humphries: Are you quoting in context?
MR MOORE: I am quoting totally in context. I am totally in context.
Mr Jensen: Which page?
MR MOORE: I quoted the page numbers. You were not here, Mr Jensen; I am not going back over them now, but I will be happy to provide them for you later.
So, what were the responsibilities of the members who were making those choices? What has come out in the press since this is that some members of the joint party room had not even read the submissions made by the people whose schools were to be closed; they had not even read their submissions. What a great shame that would be. "We did not get all the information presented by our bureaucrats", they say, trying to shift the blame onto the bureaucrats. They knew that submissions had been made by every school, and once it had been decided that a school was going to close, surely it is an abrogation of responsibility if the submission is not read. They are talking about not knowing that there were 50 students from Page at the Weetangera School. The very first sentence of the submission on reshaping by the Weetangera Primary School starts, "The Weetangera-Page Community". What could be more obvious than that, I ask you?
Then we have a situation today where, on the Matt Abraham show or on the Pru Goward show - the morning show anyway - Dr Kinloch is saying, "No more schools will close". Then we get, of course, a different story from other people. What is the truth?
Finally, I will draw attention to hypocrisy, because it goes on to the accusations that Mr Humphries has been making here. I will draw his attention to the announcement that at least six preschools will close, and draw his attention to the actions that he took about this time last year when the Labor Government was talking about preschools.
If you look at the whole situation in terms of a logical and rational decision, what you have done is made an illogical and irrational and unjustifiable decision and you have not followed the best advice that is available and you have not taken the opportunity to do something positive for the community.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .