Page 3361 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 20 September 2005
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engagement policy. It was not about building the best school, as he asserts. Could he please come to the abandonment of the government’s engagement policy.
MR SPEAKER: Come to the subject matter of the question, please, Chief Minister.
MR STANHOPE: That is what we have committed to and that is what we will deliver. It does need to be said, Mr Speaker—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Come to the subject matter of the question.
MR STANHOPE: I cannot recall what the question was; it was puerile.
MR SPEAKER: It was in relation to community engagement.
MR STANHOPE: In order to deliver the best possible school to the people of west Belconnen we will engage with the community of west Belconnen in the way that we have. We will not do what the opposition has done, that is, oppose this school or any proposal at any cost. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the government can do, say, promise, undertake or deliver in relation to the Ginninderra district high school, the new best school in the ACT, that will ever meet the approval of the opposition. You are totally and intractably opposed to this proposal and there is nothing—
Mr Smyth: I take a point of order. Mr Speaker, the Chief Minister continues to ignore you.
MR SPEAKER: Order! I have heard the point of order. Chief Minister, have you finished? Come to the subject matter of the question or resume your seat.
MR STANHOPE: We are consulting, and we are consulting at every level. The minister has gone out of her way to consult with the people of west Belconnen in relation to this school. She has convened and hosted two major community forums. She has produced a detailed response to every single question that has been posed to the department in relation to issues about the school. She has responded in relation to community concerns about the proposal in relation to the rebuilding of Ginninderra district high school by engaging an independent consultant to give advice on a particular issue. It needs to be said in relation to the community consultation that it can be followed through the history of the two public meetings that the minister has sponsored. Attendance at the first was very significant, between 250 and 300 people. It was reduced to 100 or just under at the second of the two meetings. So we can actually determine through that the extent to which the community is satisfied with the level of contact and consultation as part of this process.
MR SPEAKER: Order! The minister’s time has expired.
Disability services
MS PORTER: Mr Speaker, my question, through you, is to the Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services. Can the minister please inform the Assembly of any recent developments in the area of disability in the ACT?
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