Page 192 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 1991
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Ministry and the Alliance Government looked even at that paper before they started on this landslide course that they took we might well not have run into the divisiveness that we have.
That divisiveness is most aptly demonstrated by the reaction of the people out at Maribyrnong Primary School. Just think; a year ago, if a department had decided to move one of their regional offices into a primary school, and had even done it quickly, what would have happened? By and large there would have been a little bit of a complaint, and people would have written, perhaps, to the Minister and to members, and we could have expected to see some reaction. But instead, within two hours, they have a picket on the school. That reaction quite clearly puts the picture of the nervousness of the community in their relationship with the Education Ministry. It is an absolute disaster. It has gone downhill, and it has gone downhill under the Alliance Government and under this Minister. This Minister must wear the responsibility for the divisiveness that he has created in the Canberra community with this ridiculous school closures business that he has run through.
The school closures notion was originally started as a method of saving money and of using money to the best possible advantage; but it became very clear, after quite a short while, that there were better ways to save money in the education system if you were prepared to do it. In fact, Mr Humphries said time and time again, "Show me a better way and I will leave your schools open". The schools did show a better way. The schools, for example, that are still picketing, the Cook Primary School - I note that there are some people from Cook here today reflecting their interests - and the Lyons Primary School, not only made it quite clear that they were prepared to accept that some of their land could be taken for development but also were prepared to take tenants into their building, and had arranged commercial tenants. They had provided, in writing, a system of saving money.
But you had forgotten and you went into the battle. Now it had to be a case of, "Well, we can show a victory"; so that the Minister could come back from his tour of France, et cetera, and say, "Well, I am glad to see that we have a victory over the community". It is, at the best, a Pyrrhic victory, because you have lost far more than you have gained, as I am sure you have realised by now. It has been an absolute disaster. What you have lost is so much more important than the minimal budgetary savings, if indeed you make any. What we have is a community that is divided from its Education Department, only two or three years after Canberra stood out worldwide as having a united community education system run under a parental body. We had that system. It was a leading light in worldwide education. Now, instead, we have a bureaucratic system;
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