Page 2548 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 8 August 1990
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The Minister had repeatedly admitted in this place that he does not know the facts. Even yesterday he was not able to answer a single question on a factual basis. Not only has the Minister been unable to answer questions in the Assembly, but he has refused to find out the answers. It is just not acceptable for him to claim that the details will be provided in the budget because the Government has already announced its decision. There is no budget secrecy about this decision at all. It has already been announced.
The real reason, of course, for the secrecy is that the more information comes to light, the more apparent it is that neither Mr Humphries, nor the rest of the Government, has any idea of the real budget implications of closing particular schools. Nor, as it is now apparent, did the Government have the faintest idea about what services it was actually closing. We have seen repeatedly the scandalous situation where parents and citizens groups are much better informed about the operation of their school than is the Government.
Dr Kinloch has acknowledged publicly that when the Government decided to close Weetangera school it did not know four key facts. Government members were not aware of the after school care provided at Weetangera for children from all over the North Canberra area. They did not know, nor did they ask, about the hearing impaired unit and the fact that the children in this unit will not move to a new school with their friends. Their decision was made without the knowledge that 50 children had already been moved once from Page school to Weetangera and they did not realise that these 50 children had been given a written guarantee of five years stability at Weetangera.
The costing and the rationale for the closures has repeatedly been proven faulty by the parents at schools such as Yarralumla and Holder. Having repeatedly failed to pass very simple tests with the information it did release, the Government has now retreated to its bunker and will not release more details.
So what we have is a decision with no supporting details, a decision which the Minister is unable or is refusing to defend in this Assembly and a decision which some back bench members of the Government are reconsidering - and thank heaven they are.
The children, the parents and indeed the whole Canberra community has every reason to feel outraged and amazed at the actions and performance of the Minister and of the Government.
But, Mr Acting Speaker, we are not criticising the Government simply because we believe the school closures will not save anything like the $2m that has been claimed. We have now to ask the very important questions: did all Government members know that, as the Treasurer said
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