Page 2284 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 August 2006
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I can recall many students I went through infants and primary school with walking considerable distances to get to school.
I think it was in those years that we got on to a neighbourhood school system, and in each of the suburbs that blossomed in Canberra-in the expansion in the late 1960s and 1970s-a primary school was provided. But the Federal … Government in 1988 realised that that really was something that could not continue. And this Government, regrettably - because it would be desirable if we did have the money to do that-realises that that, unfortunately, is a luxury we … cannot afford. I think Mr Humphries should be commended for the very hard, agonising and difficult decisions he has had to take -and, indeed, this Government has had to take.
No-one likes closing schools. It would be lovely if we could keep that system. We cannot, unfortunately.
We cannot keep it. He continues:
We are standing on our own two feet now and, unfortunately, just as in the rest of Australia - just as in those Labor States that recognise the same problem … rationalisation has to take place …
He goes on to say that Mr Humphries is doing that. He says:
… Mr Humphries is doing all he can to ensure that that is as painless as possible and that the excellence of the education system remains.
That is what Mr Stefaniak wants.
Mr Stefaniak: That’s good, Jon. Look at the way we did it—much better than you.
MR STANHOPE: That is what you thought, Bill. Those were your honest opinions on this issue. They refer to the very substance of the debate except, of course, with some significant changes. The 30 per cent of students attending non-government schools has now grown to 41 per cent. The 30 per cent of students who travelled at a distance when Mr Stefaniak was giving his speech has now grown to 60 per cent. Mr Stefaniak thought it was an issue worthy of debate that 30 per cent of our school population were in non-government schools. It is now 41 per cent and growing at a per cent each year.
Mrs Dunne: And you have done nothing about it.
MR STANHOPE: We are doing something about it now. That is the puerile nonsense that Mrs Dunne continues to spout. Mr Stefaniak thought in 1990 that it was a matter of some concern, or was relevant to the debate about amalgamations and the impact on the neighbourhood school systems, that 30 per cent of children travelled out of area. Fifteen or 16 years later, it is 60 per cent. Yet Mr Stefaniak and the opposition have now retreated from the position of principle which they did not have the bottle to carry through on. Hence the double hypocrisy here. It was their well-articulated, well-argued position, but of course support within cabinet and within the party room collapsed. The minister, now Senator Humphries, was left high and dry.
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