Page 3643 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 October 1990
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from Dr Kinloch in the first place. Statements have been made to the schools lobby by Mr Jensen and Mr Collaery. Of course, they are saying to them that they do not support school closures. But when it comes to the crunch, they support them.
What it really boils down to, Mr Speaker, is that there has been no consideration of the social impact by this Government opposite. Its members have made this clear on a number of occasions. There has been a clear refusal to prepare a social impact statement. Their excuse for this is based on what somebody somewhere else in the dim, dark past has not done. This is 1990. They are about to impose a great social disaster on a lot of communities in this Territory, and they refuse to prepare a social impact statement.
The plan was cynically based on perceived financial gains - profits from the sale of public assets; no more than that. During the course of Mr Humphries' speech I noticed that he has lost interest in arguing the economic savings from the school closures plan. He is not interested in trying to argue his case any more, because it seems to me, and it is clear to the rest of the people of Canberra, that he has not been able to justify the savings that he has said will be made. The figures do not add up.
What about the costs? What about the costs to the community? Trevor Kaine does not care that local community shopping centres go broke because schools close. He does not care about small business people who have bought into those businesses on the basis of their goodwill, goodwill which is now being taken away by this Government in the school closures plan. He does not care about that. It is just a silly accountant's plan, and I must say that the leading man, the star of the 60 Minutes program, has to bear the responsibility for that.
We can already see the impacts before the closures take place. There is a lack of stability in those other community services which are provided from schools. What about the Curtin Therapy Centre? This is one of the leading centres in Australia for the infant disabled. It treats about 300 disabled infants under the one roof. The Government had not even thought about that when it decided to kick them out of the school. So, that ill-conceived plan to close Lyons school has led to the forced move of the Therapy Centre. I am sure Mr Jensen has said to the Lyons people that he does not support school closures. But when it comes time to put his hand up, he does. He supports the closure of schools. This is doublespeak, in my view. The same applies to all the Rally people.
The other two stars of the 60 Minutes spectacular cannot go without some notice in this debate. They have no mandate to do anything in this place, yet they have taken it upon themselves to attack the school system in the ACT. As I said earlier, Mr Speaker, the Australian Labor Party members of this Assembly are not the liars in this place.
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