Page 2494 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 1991
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It is quite amazing that the school communities in Lyons and Cook and Waramanga and Holder have been treated so differently. Cook and Lyons put up their hands, screamed out and said, "We want to be consulted; listen to what we have to say", and we have the schools opened. Waramanga and Holder - I will go into some detail in a few moments - have had several meetings; they have worked towards an amalgamation for quite some time; they have passed lots of motions at the meetings that were held, which represented the majority of the education community in the Weston Creek area; and they have not been listened to. That is the very important issue.
I think the Labor Party has decided that consultation with the school community in Weston Creek is not important any more. They now say that party policy is the all-important issue. I would like to quote the Chief Minister's words in her budget strategy statement, because again we go back to the party policy that was formulated in 1989:
Prior to the ... election the Australian Labor Party gave a commitment that it would not close any schools during the term of the first Assembly. Consistent with this undertaking there will be no acceleration of the consolidation of the Stromlo High School campuses ...
That says to me that it is still going to happen; but it is not going to happen at the beginning of 1992, it is going to happen at the beginning of 1993. Consequently, we are going to have students, parents and teachers severely disadvantaged. It is obvious, as I have said, that high school students in Weston Creek are not important in this Government decision; it reflects a policy decision taken early in 1989.
The Government is forgetting that a steering committee, made up of representatives from both Holder and Weston Creek high schools and including parents, students, staff and administrators, was established to facilitate the amalgamation, along with the joint school board. Throughout the formative process of amalgamation the Weston Creek school community, again through the staff, the students and the parents, were kept up to date on proceedings and at all times had opportunities to air their views or be involved in the decision making process. Amalgamation bulletins and newsletters were distributed to the community in the Weston Creek area, giving adequate notice of forthcoming meetings which the public were welcome to attend.
With amalgamation came the need for a new school name. "Stromlo High" was the result of two surveys and consultation with all the people concerned. The steering committee sent out bulletins and parents and students came up with the name "Stromlo". Again, that was a pretty good consultation process.
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