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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (13 May) . . Page.. 1301 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

That this Assembly calls on Mr Stefaniak to undertake full and comprehensive consultation before any changes are proposed for the School Without Walls.

That was in June 1996. I would have thought that, if nothing else, that would have turned on red lights and sounded warning bells that people in this Assembly - people in the Opposition and, as it turns out, the Greens and Independents - were very concerned about what was going on in terms of negotiations with SWOW. This came after questions in the house, and still the Minister paid no attention.

The way the students were treated at SWOW, the way the students who no longer have access to the off-line programs at the two schools that used to have them, the way the alternative school programs are being handled, and the way the inclusion within schools of children with disabilities is being handled are things that the Minister ought to be paying far closer attention to. They are all administratively difficult areas. They are all areas that the department will ignore if there is no leadership, no Minister saying, "I want this cohort taken care of". Again the warning bells should have rung in Mr Stefaniak's head about the way the department is treating not only him, but the Assembly and us.

I will conclude on this point. I am very worried about this. The question that went out included the details of the questions I had put on notice. It did not include my name or anything, but it was quite well worded. At the end of the question, it said, "Please indicate how much time was required to collect this material". I find that a contempt of the Assembly. The Assembly is fully entitled to ask any question it wants to, even if it takes 15 hours for every principal to answer the question. The departmental officers who sent out this fax included the note, "Please indicate how much time was required to collect this material". Another red light should have gone on and warning bells should have been rung, Mr Stefaniak, when you saw this.

How dare they! We are the elected representatives of the ACT. We collectively, the Opposition and the Independents, have a watchdog role on what the Government does. You are not at liberty to ignore us, and neither are they; and your department should not be at liberty to ignore you, the directions you give it and the directions this Assembly gives you. You listen day in, day out, to the concerns that are raised here. We do not stand up here raising concerns just to make noise. Each of the concerns I have raised - and I am sure that I am speaking for Mr Moore and Ms Tucker - has come from individuals, groups or schools. We do not raise arbitrary concerns. I could. I have lots of pet educational theories, and I could raise all sorts of concerns; but I do not. The Opposition does not. I find it absolutely appalling that the changes that are happening in our system, in our colleges, in the management of voluntary school contributions, in the management of kids with disadvantages and disabilities, in off-line kids, in the whole management of alternative education, and in the very management of the department's information to schools from this Assembly are things that you are not keeping a close enough eye on.

I raise it as a matter of very important public concern. If there is one thing we know that the ACT community will get up in arms about, it is that its education system is being badly handled. This is evidence. I can table it. I have taken off the names of the particular officers. I am not interested in naming the officers; but I will table this,

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