Page 190 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 1991
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As we say, this policy is fine. It is the abandonment of the policy by the Residents Rally parliamentary members that is of concern. We are not quite sure how many of the Residents Rally membership are still left, but that dwindling band of sadly disillusioned, by and large good members of the community are very disillusioned at what their parliamentary representatives have done. They too still subscribe to this policy and have been very critical, repeatedly, of the way this Government has administered education policy. Mr Speaker, this Government, as we are demonstrating, not only has no mandate to close schools, but also is going directly contrary to the policy that it went to the people on, and for that it of course deserves the community's condemnation.
Mr Speaker, we have gone through 12 months of this divisive debate on education and sadly it looks as though we will be going through another 12 months of it. The schools community, the community in the ACT, was horrified by that ambit claim that was made by the Minister early last year and that, so far as we can see, has not yet been retreated from - that 25 schools was a goal. We went through the agony of trying to justify that decision. Every school in Canberra, Mr Speaker, was disrupted during that period, and every public school in Canberra remains concerned as to what its future might be under this Government that so clearly is dedicated to ripping into the public education system.
Community views have been ignored and it is this vain policy, this macho policy of "We have to be seen to be tough", that seems to be dominating the Government's thinking on this issue. The financial implications of school closure, on all the evidence available to the community, are most likely to result in net loss. The Government has been woefully unable to demonstrate any financial benefit. They think they were put through the hoops a bit at last year's Estimates Committee; it is undoubtedly clear that they will be put through the hoops well and truly this year because, unless they can justify the substantial savings that they have been promising, they will be shown in the community to be the hollow men of politics. Again, of course, we come back to the debate yesterday afternoon. I have said that this is the sort of pointless macho display of toughness that is being displayed by this Cabinet, again a Cabinet containing not a single woman. What an extraordinary position in Australia in 1991.
Mr Speaker, Labor's position on this issue remains clear. We often hear groans of despair from members on the Government benches who are suggesting that yet again Labor is wanting to debate the education issue. Well, we are quite proud of that. We will continue to debate the education issue. Mr Berry referred in the Assembly yesterday to this excellent publication on education, and I thought I heard an interjection inviting him to have it read into Hansard. Perhaps it would not have been a bad idea
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