Page 4263 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 20 November 1990
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you consider that in the joint party room? I will back it in that you did not consider it. You would not know. It is another knee-jerk reaction. You may have to threaten to resign again, Chief Minister.
What will be the fate of these and other services which were told that they would have to move to Rivett? The Government has not considered it. It is interesting that members are laughing at this point in the debate, because the repercussions of these school closures will be felt in those very important community services long after this mob have gone.
The list goes on in relation to this Government,s decision on school closures. It is an accountant,s plan. So, what the members did to try to justify it was to get themselves a review. But that did not work either. In fact, it showed the flaws in their original decision, and the community is again up in arms over the behaviour of this Government - and deservedly so. I have to say that the parents and friends of the Higgins, Rivett and Weetangera schools are to be congratulated on the great battle that they put up in relation to these school closures. It was a good win. But the fight is yet to occur in relation to Cook, Hackett, Holder and Lyons. The fight is not over. I am happy to be associated with a struggle to secure guarantees that the Labor Party gave before it was elected to this place; and that was that no schools would close in the first term of this parliament. Our participation with the community would have led to a better result. We do not dwell on the past, Mr Collaery. We look forward to the future.
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (4.35): Mr Berry asked the question and he got the answer. The posturing has just finished. He is the expert at it; so he ought to know.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I do not know when the Opposition will ever recognise that the debate is over. How many MPIs have we had on this issue over the past few months? I have to say to them that mere repetition of argument - even if it is cogent - adds nothing to the debate. And that is all we have had - repetition, repetition, repetition. I presume that Opposition members are working on the basis that if they say it often enough, no matter how untrue it is, somebody will believe it. That is the basis they are working on.
The simple fact is that this debate is not supposed to be about school closures, but about administration. I have not heard any member on the opposition benches talk about the administration of the schools yet. They are absolutely obsessed with the fact that this Government has taken issue with the problem and has closed some schools. They are absolutely obsessed by it, and they think they are on an election winner. I have news for you. It will not get you 10 votes, because everybody out there knows that you are a bunch of hypocrites; everybody knows that your policy provides for school closures.
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