Page 2505 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 1991
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for the Stromlo High School, particularly at the Waramanga campus of that school. It is a mistake to assume that all of that work related directly to the early amalgamation of those two campuses. It did not.
Attached to this document is a very succinct categorisation of the costs associated with the amalgamation of the school. It shows a total of some $280,000 of works under the category "Works necessary to cope with increased enrolment", that is, to bring forward the amalgamation or consolidation of that school site. That is $280,000 of the $1.5m. The rest of that $1.5m is under the heading "Refurbishment works to better utilise existing spaces which have been brought forward" - not created or made necessary but brought forward - "considered necessary for the school to operate efficiently".
In other words, approximately $1m worth of work was necessary in any case to make the Waramanga campus of the Stromlo High School operate efficiently. That included things such as a science laboratory upgrade, technology areas upgrade, upgraded fit-out of the computer rooms, canteen area general upgrade, additional and upgraded classroom spaces, et cetera. Those things were required, and will still be required, to make that school operate efficiently.
Mr Duby: It does not matter how many children go there.
MR HUMPHRIES: Exactly. That $1m will have to be spent by this Government, if it is in office long enough, when the students come over to the school, whenever it might be.
Mr Duby: Or whether they come or not.
MR HUMPHRIES: Whether they come or not; indeed. So, it is quite false and misleading to say to the community and to this Assembly that that $1.5m was created by having to have an early amalgamation of those two campuses. There was, as the Opposition Leader reminds me, an initial allocation in our capital works program of $950,000 in 1991-92 for those capital works to go ahead. We acknowledged that; we put it in our capital works program and it was there. It was removed by this Follett Labor Government - - -
Mr Kaine: Already.
MR HUMPHRIES: It has been removed already by the Follett Labor Government because it was just too hard to make that decision.
Mr Kaine: They have anticipated the outcome of community consultation.
MR HUMPHRIES: That is the point, of course. The people opposite say that they want to consult with the community about what should happen to the Stromlo High School, but they have already made the decision. They have taken that
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