Page 2281 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 August 2006
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It is all too much for many in our community who are, I think, bamboozled and totally perplexed by what you are now seeking to do. It is something you cannot wriggle out of. Any amount of attempted justification such as, “We are really going to consult, we are really consulting now,” is seen by the community as a nonsense because it is consultation after you have announced your desired outcome. It is called, as we used to call it in the military, situating the appreciation—and that is probably being kind to it.
Mrs Dunne’s motion, which is effectively the amendment you had at your conference, is an eminently sensible one. It does not even stop you ultimately doing what you intend to do, perhaps, but gives you a chance to engage in proper consultation, and it gives school communities a chance to engage in proper consultation with you. It also means that there will not be a horrendous shemozzle at the end of this year because of the time frame.
Yes, you are right. In respect of your six months you say, “We have to consult because of the act.” You did not consult beforehand. That would have been helpful. Given that you announced it on 6 June, you have until 6 December, by the act, to engage in whatever sort of consultation sham it may be. That causes very significant problems in relation to this.
What is so bad about the approach you are taking is that you are going to end your consultation period in December, and that could not be worse for families. What a great Christmas present that is for families. They will be wondering in the lead-up to Christmas whether their school is going to get the chop. Of course many will now try to switch to new schools, which will mean a lot of anxiety for parents, children and teachers. That is what happens when you have targeted a school for the chop in this very crude fashion.
Just when your consultation period ends the schools will be shut down. How are parents supposed to sort out those arrangements? That will be of immense difficulty and worry to them over the Christmas break. That is a time when people want to be with family. They go on holidays, they forget about school, they want a clean break. Maybe the Grinch lives in the form of the Chief Minister and his brand new education minister. I think that is a nasty bit of work for the Canberra community at this particular Christmas coming up.
The government may not exactly have stolen Christmas, but they seem hell-bent on ruining it. Really this motion says: extend the consultation period until March, let people have their Christmas, avoid the huge, potential mess that you seem to be creating for yourselves when you make your announcements in December. The second part of the motion, of course, is to not have any school closures until the end of 2007.
This motion is not rocket science. It is something you people put up yourselves. I think it was Sue Robinson who put it up, if I read your sheet properly, seconded by someone else. Mrs Dunne has merely replicated it here. It is a motion which the P&C is quite happy with.
I watched the demonstration organised by Dr Foskey earlier today. I think the head of the P&C said she was very happy with that type of approach. It seems an approach that 96 out of 100 people during the conference, if you can believe the Canberra Times, thought
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