Page 3720 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 October 1990
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think this year there are six more students at Weetangera than at Hawker. But in future years the number of students attending Weetangera will grow.
The Minister claimed that there was no evidence of any regeneration in the suburb, yet the parents did an extensive survey of the suburb. I might say that the parents' planning is a lesson to the Minister. They found that in the last two years there had been 93 house sales and they had resulted in a loss of 35 students, but they had also brought about an increase of 125 students. There was a net gain of 90 students, not yet all of school age, coming into the Weetangera suburb. So, the future for Weetangera looks very good indeed.
I have indicated that I am using data provided to me by Weetangera parents. I invite the Minister to check this data; he has had to check it before because they have challenged him and shown him to be wrong. In every area in which I look at the Minister's data and the parents' data, the parents' work is much more thorough, it is competent and it is reliable. The Government falls behind in respect of its ability to plan. I am very comfortable in using the data provided to me, to the media, to the whole community, by the parents of Weetangera school. The school can hold more students and it is going to have more students. Why, for heaven's sake, do you want to shut it?
The Government, of course, has asserted that in any case it is not just the number of students at a school - and I accept the logic in this - it is a matter of the school's location in relation to the whole neighbourhood, to the whole range of suburbs in that area and also, in some respects, to future development. I do not argue about that. If you are going down that closure path you need to do that. But, again, look at maps, look at figures; the Government's assessment is wrong. For example, Higgins school is to be closed, but it is not to be demolished because the Government acknowledges that in the future it may need to be there to draw children. Should there be development in West Belconnen, that new suburb would be very close to Higgins school. That is true. If these events occur, then that new suburb can feed to Higgins school. It means that students are not going to go anywhere near Hawker school, and there is no reason to keep Hawker school open as against Weetangera because those children will not go to Hawker. If you put it in context, it is a nonsense to say, "Close Weetangera".
Your planning is all up the creek. Get out your map and have a look at it, and while you are looking at your map have a look at the crossings underneath the road. Some of you have seen this, as you accepted the invitation of the parents and visited the area. You will be impressed by the fact that some children taking the shortest route to school are not going to use the underpass under Springvale Drive. Of course, many will, but there will be a very large number who will not use that underpass.
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