Page 2609 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 8 August 1990
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The Theodore Street School houses numbers of other children, connections of whom have said, "We were also overlooked." That is a particular group; these are children who are behaviourally disturbed. They have very specific needs. Sadly, these are often rejected, unhappy children. Above all else, they need to know that they are accepted. They need stability and they need security. Already people who deal with them are noticing the impact of the closures on those students. They do not know where they are going. There has been no suggestion anywhere that someone has given some consideration to where they should go. They have very specific needs; it is not just a matter of finding a wing somewhere and putting them into it.
Let me raise the case of parents and child care. Around every school there is a collection of after school care minders who have been authorised through various procedures and accepted as being capable of looking after children. It is a very useful arrangement. Parents drop their children there before school; the children go there after school; often they are then ferried to after school care later. There are all sorts of informal arrangements. The critical factor is that these minders have to be close to the school. Suddenly the school is going. The parents have to go through a whole new set of arrangements, if they exist. The minders are out of a job, if you like, because that is what it is. They are dedicated, but it is also a paid job. The Minister should reflect on that. He does not understand that?
Mr Humphries: No, I do not.
MR WOOD: Well, suppose there is a house just across the road from, or very close to a primary school - say, Cook school. Parents put their children there in the morning because they are going to work at 8.00 am or so. The children are delivered to the school nearly an hour later. They go back to this house across the road or nearby after school and they are cared for. Now, you take Cook school away, that person who minds up to six or seven children - - -
Ms Maher: Loses her job.
MR WOOD: Ms Maher knows about it.
Mr Humphries: It is not a part of the Government's business to provide jobs to people in those circumstances. It is not our responsibility. We cannot afford it.
MR WOOD: It is not your Government's business to provide jobs? I am interested to hear you say that.
Mr Humphries: Where do we draw the line? We cannot afford these things any more.
MR WOOD: All right, I am quite comfortable that you should say that, but I do not agree with it at all. I am pointing
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