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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 8 Hansard (25 October) . . Page.. 2004 ..

Mr Berry: It is the same cost as the supplementation.

MR MOORE: Mr Berry interjects that it is the same cost as supplementation. I will take that interjection, Mr Speaker. Try to remember the notion of creating a false hope for a school that now has an enrolment of 30 or 40 students in Year 7. It really has gone past that turnaround period.

It has not been in any sense an easy decision. The crunch, as far as I am concerned, is that it is too late. In fact, Labor had the chance to turn this school around. They are coming at it much too late. For them to now sit there and try to take the high moral ground, when it was up to them to turn it around when they were in government, is hypocrisy, Mr Speaker. I am pleased that there are showers around here so that I can make sure that I have the hypocrisy washed from me in a little while. It is simply too late. Labor had the opportunity. It was Labor's responsibility. They failed to face up to their responsibility. They are now prepared to use the community for their own political gain, in spite of the anguish it will cause, Mr Speaker; and I am not prepared to support that.

MS TUCKER (12.19): First of all, I would like to clarify something Mr Osborne said. I think he would do better to stick to the argument rather than make imputations against people that he has not thought out or understood. What happened this morning was that Ms Horodny was contacted about the motion. She had not actually seen the motion, which came to us late, which I am sure Ms McRae will confirm. If Mr Osborne had attended the Estimates Committee he would be well aware that we have been concerned about Charnwood High School for some time.

In terms of this motion, I am quite aware that Labor possibly did not take a responsible role in this as well. I have heard that already from several speakers. The point is that we have a community school here and it would be worth while seeing whether there are ways of keeping it open that are not going to be a huge cost on the community. Mrs Carnell seems to see only one solution to this problem. That shows a lack of creative thinking. I do not believe that the Government agency responsible, as we have seen in other cases, has taken on its management role with any flair or dedication. Passage of this motion would allow the Government to do that, but there needs to be a commitment. If the Government is going to manage these facilities it needs to be a responsible manager. That has not been the case so far and the community has suffered. By supporting this motion that could now begin to happen, perhaps for the first time.

MR WOOD (12.21): Mr Speaker, I rise as the person who, when Minister for Education, reopened two schools that were shut by the former Alliance Government. I want to deal, first of all, with a couple of furphies that have been spread during the debate today. The first is the one Mr Moore, Mr Osborne and members of the present Government mentioned - that we did nothing for Charnwood High School.

Mr Moore: I did not say that. I agree that you had supplementation. I said that you did not do enough.

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