Page 3630 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 October 1990
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What they mean by "neighbourhood schools" is not defined. It seems to me that what the Opposition means by "neighbourhood schools" is a school in every suburb in Canberra. That, I think, is what it means by "neighbourhood schools" when, in fact, that has never been what neighbourhood schools have meant in Canberra. It was never what that term meant in the context of planning in the ACT, because we have never planned or built Canberra in such a way that every suburb has had a school, neighbourhood or otherwise. I do not believe that those opposite have clearly understood that. Even in newer suburbs of Canberra that has never been the case; it was never intended to be the case. I think it would behove them to look very carefully at the principles underlying the planning of Canberra and examine the possibilities that the Government's plan has to, in fact, conform to those planning principles.
The provisions that have been made for the safety of children in Canberra are not going to be lost or wasted because of the closure of some schools. Those provisions are still there. They have been designed to be adequate in the case of particular arrangements, in particular in suburbs where schools have never been provided, and they will, I suggest to you opposite, be sufficient to provide for the safety of children in new arrangements as well.
To give an example, the suburb of McKellar has never had a school; it was never, to my knowledge, intended to have a school.
Mr Wood: Yes, it was. The planners wanted it.
MR HUMPHRIES: That is what Mr Wood says; but, in fact, it has never had a school. Suburbs like Isaacs have never had a school. North Lyneham, I am told, has never had a school, and was never planned to have a school. There are a number of suburbs such as Bruce and Macarthur which were never intended to have a school, and in fact, today do not have a school. In fact, in many respects, that is not an entirely bad thing.
You should look at those suburbs and see whether every one of them has been provided with a totally adequate supply of, for example, overpasses and underpasses. I do not know what overpasses or underpasses join McKellar with Evatt or Florey. My knowledge - and I might stand corrected - or my recollection of that suburb is that there are no overpasses or underpasses. There are none. The children in that suburb were intended by the planners to cross main roads and there are many entry points. If you look at the map, there are many entry points from the suburb of McKellar to the suburb of Evatt or the suburb to the south of that suburb of McKellar which children could use, and I have no doubt do use, every day of the week - every single day of the week.
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