Page 4390 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 21 November 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
inquiry, once the Hudson inquiry was in front of us, we, the Residents Rally and all members of the Alliance Government, had an obligation to take that very seriously, as indeed have members of the Opposition and Mr Moore. Therefore I was particularly concerned about - - -
Mr Stevenson: What about me?
DR KINLOCH: Dennis, I am not trying to exclude you, I am sorry. Therefore, we had to take into particular consideration the options that were put before us. Of course, there was no way some of us would have accepted options A and B, or option D. We were involved with option C. In a sense we would have preferred option E or H, as I sometimes was calling it; but one had to be realistic within the context in which we found ourselves and that is the context of a report which looked at a range of sizes of schools.
Although saying all kinds of things about a number of schools, a bit like the book of Revelation, you could pick all sorts of things out of Mr Hudson's report. Nevertheless, if you look at the clarity of some aspects of the report, then the schools identified for closure by Mr Hudson were Cook, Hackett, Holder and, the fourth one in that list of four he had, Lyons.
Now, I want you to know that members of the Residents Rally not only fought hard with our particular aspect towards the schools, we also moved in that direction that no schools be closed. You know that within your own party - I speak now to the Labor Party - when you have divisions you stick with your divisions. What we in a sense have agreed to is a kind of option C, but, frankly, better than an option C, because we have also taken up the question of the task force to look at these matters in the future.
We came to a conclusion, therefore, as a Government. I recognise the dilemmas for some of us. Do not try to tell me that this was a soft and easy matter. I do not feel warm and cuddly. It was a very, very difficult matter. I believe that, having done all we could, having looked at the Hudson inquiry, we took the options that were most reasonable under the circumstances, and I will try to live with those decisions.
MR WOOD (12.26), in reply: Mr Speaker, Mr Moore, in a sense, has been the one who has missed out in this debate as he finished early to allow my right of reply, brief though that will be, and for the vote to be taken. I think the debate has confirmed to me today that we ought all to be voting yes to these motions. Dr Kinloch, I hope, understands the impact of his - - -
Dr Kinloch: I do, I do.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .