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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 8 Hansard (28 October) . . Page.. 2330 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

inefficiently according to the Auditor-General's criteria. We dispute some of the Auditor-General's criteria. Nevertheless, even in his report, there is no evidence that Downer Preschool was under threat. So, quite rightly, the residents of Downer and the parents of children at Downer Preschool felt that they were not facing a problem.

Out of the blue, the Government said, "We will suspend the operation of Downer". It is a cynical move by this Government. Everyone understands that suspension will ultimately result in closure. Parents need certainty for their children, and if there is doubt over whether or not Downer will remain open or will reopen in a year's time, they are not going to endeavour to enrol in Downer. They are going to enrol and maintain their enrolments in a preschool that they have the certainty of knowing is going to be there for more than a year. Parents do not like to upset the patterns of their children, particularly in their early years of schooling. That is an entirely legitimate and appropriate course of action to take. The Government knew that, and the Government still pursued this course of action which they knew would result ultimately in the closure of an important community facility.

Mr Speaker, one of the issues that concerned me about the Government's decision in relation to Downer was that it ignored completely the very first recommendation in the report of the Standing Committee on Education on preschools. It ignored the recommendation that no major changes should be introduced until a long-term plan had been developed for the management of preschools in the ACT. The closure of not just Downer but of Stokes Street is a fairly fundamental change to the provision of preschool education in Canberra. That recommendation was ignored.

I was amazed to hear the Minister stand up in this place and say that the Government is proud of its consultation record and that it is the reason they were re-elected. I can assure the Minister that if he had been running around during the election campaign saying, "We are going to close Downer Preschool", it might have been a pretty different result, certainly in Downer. Minister, if you want to continue to delude yourself as to the effectiveness of your consultation processes, go right ahead. I can assure you that on the ground in Downer and in other parts of the inner north and even the inner south of Canberra there is growing disquiet with your Government's attitudes in relation to the operation of preschools.

At last count, there were 21 enrolments for the Downer Preschool. I think that is right. My colleague Mr Berry nods in agreement. To me, that is not the sign of an institution struggling to survive, not the sign of an institution which does not have the support of its local community. As Mr Kaine said earlier in the debate, governments' priorities change every day. Governments are elected to respond to the demands of the community. Governments are elected to understand where there is a need in the community and to meet that need. Mr Stefaniak seeks to portray the Government as having no flexibility on this issue. Mr Kaine gave the lie to that. They can spend over $100,000 opening a concrete slab that no-one uses, but they cannot keep a preschool open. Mr Kaine has highlighted that issue quite well.

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