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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 8 Hansard (25 October) . . Page.. 1983 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

For all of this year, Mr Speaker, Charnwood High School, and I might say Stirling College too, received considerable levels of supplementation to assist them address this type of community response. Unfortunately, it does not seem, in the case of the high school, to have worked. It is all very well for Ms McRae to say that there should be more consultation; there should be more time taken to sort out options to try to reverse the decline in enrolments. What does she think has been going on already this year? What does she think the committee has been doing? The committee worked through a number of options. It worked through them and - - -

Ms Follett: Close or close?

MR STEFANIAK: No, there were about four or five, Ms Follett. It was working through them, including the options such as K to Year 10, and Years 7 and 8, and Years 9 and 10. It was working through those options and there were people putting up points in relation to them at the meeting I attended. No doubt that occurred at previous meetings as well. The committee certainly has looked at all these options and it came up with those two options.

Several options have been considered already. It is clear, with declining enrolments, that the school cannot continue along the same lines as this year, supplementation or not. One option, I suppose, would be to amalgamate with Ginninderra High School. That would enable an orderly transfer of students and resources. Ms McRae mentioned a few things in relation to that which I will comment on. The Labor Government was in a similar situation with Griffith Primary School. Just as it assisted those students, if that option is taken up, obviously this Government will assist. We appreciate that there is a need for transport. We appreciate that there is a need for, perhaps, transport to be given to students for maybe two years or something like that, and other assistance provided to let them settle in. I think that would be fair and that would be something we would do.

That option was certainly bandied about, and I do not know why Ms McRae says that it is not viable, as she seems to be saying. That school has a very large capacity which would take all of Charnwood High School. There is also a good precedent for that, which is probably why the committee came up with it. Holder High School and Weston Creek High School became Stromlo High School, and very successfully. That is a way in which, contrary to what Ms McRae states, a school does not lose its identity. There is any number of analogies, not only in schools but also in other areas, where organisations amalgamate. Battalions in the army amalgamate. They keep their old colours. Holder and Weston Creek had a very successful amalgamation; so, really, I do not quite know what Ms McRae is driving at there. Several other options were considered, such as a small high school with an integrated approach to teaching, a kindergarten to Year 10 school, and twinning with another school. Those were options that the committee looked at and argued about. At the meeting I attended there was a lot of discussion about them and a lot of pros and cons raised.

The third thing I want to place on the record is that this Government is committed to maintaining education funding in real terms. We are continuing to honour our commitment to maintain education funding. That is plain and easy to see in the budget papers. There are no tricks, there are no mirrors, and there is no smoke.

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