Page 2281 - Week 08 - Friday, 21 June 1991
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good value for the money. I do not have the precise figures with me, but I am aware that the total cost for the two schools to be reopened is in the order of half a million dollars - - -
Mr Wood: And $100,000 for maintaining staff.
MS FOLLETT: Thank you, Mr Wood. It is $500,000 plus - in the order of half a million dollars, as I said. Mr Speaker, I regard that as a relatively small price to pay to ensure that the students at Lyons and Cook are able to return to their schools.
Ms Maher: Are you paying for it, or the community?
MS FOLLETT: I believe, Mr Speaker, that the decision taken by the Alliance, of which Ms Maher was such a vocal member, was absolutely reprehensible. It was a decision made without the support of the community; it was a decision made in the face of all advice; it was a decision that had nothing to do with the educational equity of the children at those schools.
I believe that it was the decision to close those schools and the way in which that decision was implemented - that is, without any form of real consultation - that eventually led to the downfall of the Alliance. For that reason, I believe that the significance of this issue cannot be underestimated. We gave an undertaking that we would reopen those schools where it was the wish of the community that we do so. We gave that undertaking in good faith to both Cook and Lyons schools. We will, indeed, be proceeding with that. Mr Wood has announced that the schools will be reopening on 15 July.
Mr Speaker, in reopening the schools, of course, it is very important that the students at other schools are not disrupted, and also that the education budget as a whole is not adversely affected by that decision. And that is our intention. It has not been a decision that has been taken lightly, because of the very difficult budget that is facing the Territory, and I will be speaking about that again later. Nevertheless, it is a promise and undertaking that was made by us and that will be honoured, and that will be honoured across the whole of the budget.
MRS NOLAN: I have a supplementary question. The third part of my question was: Can the Chief Minister inform the house what advice was received from Treasury before a decision was made to reopen the schools?
MS FOLLETT: We did indeed have advice on the costings. I think that about all the advice that we had was on the costings of the reopenings.
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