Page 4186 - Week 14 - Thursday, 25 October 1990
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But what are the people who move into these medium density houses to do when they need educational facilities for their children? The neighbourhood school will not be there. At the moment in those areas where there have been declines in enrolments the school facilities are being used flexibly. Classrooms which are not presently in use for teaching purposes have been rented out to community groups and, in some cases, to commercial groups. The schools community has done a remarkable job in presenting to this Government submissions, which have consistently fallen on deaf ears, to demonstrate how additional revenue could be earned by this flexible use of the presently unused space at the neighbourhood schools.
Mr Deputy Speaker, that would be a flexible use of neighbourhood schools, which is consistent with planning policies, the concept of retaining a neighbourhood school and the obvious fact that urban areas will grow and contract over time and that the number of school-age children in an urban area will vary from year to year. In the years when there are fewer school-age children, rental income can be generated from the school. As demand for school spaces picks up, in a sensible and orderly fashion, that rental accommodation can be relinquished and the areas can be reused for school accommodation.
At the risk of outraging the Government, I again remind it that it was all pointed out in the OECD report - that unused school capacity is not a liability to government; that it can be an asset if sensibly used. It means that those neighbourhoods retain their schools. It has always been a basic principle that there will be a ratio of households to schools. Again, the July 1984 Metropolitan Canberra Policy Plan indicates:
Experience has shown that residential areas of about 4000-5000 people form a community of interest and provide the necessary threshold for the provision of facilities such as schools, neighbourhood shops and recreation areas.
Mr Deputy Speaker, when you shut down the neighbourhood school and flog it off, the community group of that number of households loses one of its essential factors, and it cannot be regained. Once you have sold the school it is gone, unless this Alliance Government is hoping to lumber a future government, which will no doubt be a Labor government, with the difficulty of repurchasing these areas that have been sold off.
The future capital cost to the ACT Government could be incredible when regenerating inner urban areas are being redeveloped. Already we are aware that significant thought is being given to the infill of areas of west Belconnen. How will that be affected by the closure of Higgins and Weetangera schools? Will the ACT Government be forced to purchase new areas in the emerging suburb to build a replacement school? It is purely a wasteful decision.
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