Page 1861 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2006
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We were not even considering it. The work that was done after the election on Ginninderra district high, which started off this process, happened after the election.
Time will show that I stand here and tell the truth. You can twist it as much as you like. Heading into the last election, the government had taken no decisions and had no plans to close any schools. I have been through this in the Assembly before. You can read the Hansard. On re-election, I was approached by the Ginninderra district high school to have a look at their school. We have been through this before; check the Hansard. I went out and had a look at the school. We put together a proposal for school renewal. Following that work, there has been more work done.
As much as the Liberals do not want to accept that, they cannot find my having said it as the minister; they cannot it find it in our election policy; they cannot find it anywhere—other than a statement by a spokesperson from my office which they consistently take out of context. The response that that question was answered to was: did the government have any plans to close schools? We did not. After the election, when I started looking at how we could provide the best public education system for our children, we started work on the Ginninderra district high school proposal. The towards 2020 program has come out of that work.
We have to accept the fact that parents are voting with their feet and are not sending their kids to schools in the numbers that they should. Public education should not be a safety net for those that cannot afford private education. That is what it will become if there is not investment and there is not modernisation of this system. That is what we should be talking about here today.
How do we provide the best system for our children? How do we apply this $110 million to make sure our schools are good and to make sure that, when a prospective parent walks in the door, they think, “Wow, this is the school I would like to educate my child in”? We need that response from parents. We do not need parents walking in and going, “I went to this school and it has not changed.” That is not what we need. We need a different way of doing things. That is the program that the minister has put forward. He should be commended on his vision and on the work that is being done.
Mrs Dunne: It is not about that document.
MS GALLAGHER: It is about this document.
Mrs Dunne: It is not. It is about this bill.
MS GALLAGHER: Your amendments, Mrs Dunne—
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members, Ms Gallagher has the floor. Can we get through this debate with every point being heard properly? Carry on, Ms Gallagher. You have the floor.
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The amendments being put forward by Mrs Dunne today tie the whole vision up in a process argument about how consultation on a potential amalgamation or closure or rationalisation of schools should occur. And that is what it will be tied up in. It will not be about discussions on how best
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