Page 2508 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 23 August 2006
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Yesterday I read out a letter from one such parent indicative of this government’s and the minister’s failure to properly bring on board people in the consultation process. Nowhere did these parents say to me that I have it totally wrong and that the government and the minister are right and they were consulted. Absolutely nobody has said they were consulted properly in a timely way, and an expeditiously carried out action by the minister did not occur. These parents have been left in total chaos—absolute chaos.
The article refers to me saying that the government had not thought its plan through to its logical conclusion. The government is now doing policy on the run. Amalgamation of Alfred Deakin high school and Woden school is being suggested. Mr Thorn, who represents Client Guardian Forum, says the government has proposed the amalgamation of Alfred Deakin high school and the Woden school, but it will no doubt impact upon Woden school. According to Newton’s third law of relativity, if one does one thing over here, something will happen on the other side of that equation, and it will not all be positive. Some might be. But the minister has not thought this plan through at all. He and his department have been sadly lacking in making sure that students with a disability and their parents have been well catered for.
Does the minister know what it is like to have a child with autism? Has he any idea of the disruption he does to that child when he moves them from one room to another, let alone from one school to another? He may smile. I am serious about this. He cannot sit there and smile, because his plan seeks to move and disrupt. He may be nodding his head as well, but clearly he has not thought about this. Children with disabilities are more likely to be enrolled in non-government schools.
Mr Barr: In government schools, do you mean?
MRS BURKE: Sorry, in government schools. Thank you for your correction. He knows about that, clearly, because he has just corrected me, but the disappointing thing for me is that he seems to have not done the homework first. Parents are saying they are absolutely tired. Parents have already done their homework choosing a school, and they do not want to do that again. Some say, this is a good one but they will have to give up their jobs. Is that good? I do not think so. I could go on and on. The minister knows these facts, but I have to make it clear in this place today that members on the government side, who stood at public meetings and at their local conference to say they thought this was not a good idea, are now backing away at a million miles an hour.
It is an absolute disgrace that they can say it in one forum and then not in another. I ask: who are they doing this job for—the people they represent or their party factions and the people who support them and give them money to stand as members of parliament in this place? It really is so hypocritical. I have said that children are left in limbo, and that is the sad fact of this. I do not believe the education minister has said much more than “Oh well, children can just stay another term in the school. That will fix it”. Where is the plan, minister? You have not talked to me about the plan.
Mr Barr: There is an individual plan for each student.
MRS BURKE: You are probably going to tell me at Christmastime, probably just before Christmas. There is already a plan did I hear you say? Table it. Let us see the plan. You table that plan and I will sit down.
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