Page 4260 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 20 November 1990
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The outcome of the Hudson report is, I would now stress, an acceptance by the Alliance Government of aspects of the report. Which aspects? First, there is an acceptance of several of Mr Hudson,s specific recommendations. There were those three primary schools which were to have been amalgamated. That will no longer go ahead. In other words, the Alliance Government accepted that particular recommendation.
There was an acceptance of what Mr Hudson had to say about Holder High and Weston Creek High, in basic terms. There is a modified acceptance of one of the Hudson options, option C. That is, we did not necessarily accept all of option C. I am not going to say that everyone here agreed with all of option C. That is not necessarily true. But what the Alliance Government did in the outcome, in recognising an inquiry which it set up, was to act on many of the elements within that inquiry. In the outcome of that inquiry I would particularly point to the acceptance of the notion of the Hudson task force.
I want to say that our Government here recognises the very great divisiveness there has been this year. I believe that this is the day when we will cease that divisiveness. We recognise the pain, and I very much recognise the pain for the three or four remaining schools that were not recommended to be saved but were recommended to be closed by the Hudson inquiry. I recognise the pain in that. No-one recognises that more than I - except the parents and children of those schools. But I want to say that we have taken that task to heart, we have taken the inquiry to heart, and we have moved on to do our best to administer the education system as best we can.
MR BERRY (4.25): Dr Kinloch, you will receive no thanks from me for your message of peace and tranquillity, because this will go down as a year that you will long remember, because it will be remembered as the year that Dr Hector Kinloch voted for and, in fact, moved the motion to close schools. You wear the responsibility for that; so, do not try to pass it off with messages of peace and tranquillity.
People are angry for good reason. Ask the people of Cook, Hackett, Holder and Lyons; just ask them how they feel. I would like to come back, just for a moment, to the message that the Minister for Education tried to push in this place, namely, that there is some level of satisfaction in the community about his management of the education system. I say to him: I throw down the gauntlet. Let us go to the polls. Let us go to the polls and we will test the satisfaction levels for your management of the education system. Let us ask the - - -
Mr Kaine: You will get your chance, but not on your terms, buddy.
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