Page 2864 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 August 1990
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that this Government should not close schools. What was good enough for them, only 18 months ago, is good enough for this Government. The reason it is good enough is that the issues have not changed in that time. There has not been a resurgence in the ACT's birthrate. There has not been a surge in the school-age population of this Territory. The same issues that prompted the Federal Government to close schools 18 months ago are still prompting this Government. The same forces, the same issues, are there. The reason that this decision has been made, both by this Government and by previous governments, is that it makes sense.
I will not talk any more about what happened in the past. I will talk about what will be happening in the future elsewhere with Labor Party governments. Is that any more relevant, I wonder? I think it is. Let us look at what ALP governments are doing elsewhere in this country.
Mrs Grassby: It is not relevant. Stop trying to run Canberra by the rest of Australia. It has nothing to do with it.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mrs Grassby is embarrassed. Of course, she is.
Mrs Grassby: No, I am not embarrassed. I can get up and talk about what Greiner is doing in New South Wales.
MR HUMPHRIES: It is not just Mr Greiner, Mrs Grassby - - -
Mrs Grassby: Oh, come on!
MR HUMPHRIES: It is not just Mr Greiner; it is Mrs Kirner. Mrs Kirner, the Premier of Victoria, announced the closure of 300 schools in Victoria.
Mrs Grassby: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: this is irrelevant to the debate. It is about what is happening in the rest of Australia. It is what is happening in Canberra that is important. They are closing schools in Canberra. We do not want to know what is happening anywhere else.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Do not debate the issue, please, Mrs Grassby. Mr Humphries, please remain relevant to this issue.
MR HUMPHRIES: I will continue to remain as relevant as I have been all along, Mr Speaker. The fact of life is that governments elsewhere in this country realise that closing schools is an important step in a shrinking resource environment; it is an important step for ensuring that schools do not lose important resources elsewhere.
Mr Duby: The baby boom is over.
MR HUMPHRIES: Let us face it, the baby boom is over. We cannot sustain the level of infrastructure that we built for the baby boom - - -
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