Page 2572 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 23 August 2006
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background, no ministerial background, no background in how the current education system works, has the answer to it all. He has become the oracle of the future of education. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, how arrogant is that? How arrogant is it that he just comes in and, without even getting to know his portfolio, decides he is going to gut it? This is what has happened with this arrogant minister today.
Yes, he does know something about the portfolio. By his own admission he is also a product of the education system, but because you have been schooled in the education system it does not mean you know how it runs. It does not mean that you understand the intricacies. Without understanding the intricacies, without understanding why we have a secondary college system, without understanding what it is that goes into contributing to the ACT having the best education system in the country, an above average education system, we are just going to dismantle it all. Well, the people of the ACT tell me that they are not happy with that. They make a contribution to this education system in blood, sweat, tears, taxes, chook raffles, fetes, lamington drives, chocolate drives, running the canteen, reading to their children, assisting in classrooms and taking their children to sport. They own this system much more than Andrew Barr owns this system.
We have seen the arrogance of this minister and the Labor Party in general. We had it here this morning when we heard Mr Corbell say, “I do not think it is in the best interests of people that we extend the consultation.” We have witnessed the arrogance of this Chief Minister saying, “The Labor Party has decided, in its wisdom, what is best for you, and we are going to put it forward.” This is what he said about consultation when he was talking to parents of Ginninderra district high school outside the state conference last year. He admitted that there was no way that that was going to change. His consultation for the closing of Ginninderra district high school was consultation on how it will close. There was no consultation then, and there is no consultation now, on the economic, social and environmental impacts.
I would like this minister and his officials to tell us how many times in the 500-odd meetings have they asked parents, or parent bodies, or schools, or communities, “What is the economic impact? What do you think is the economic impact of closing Tharwa primary school? What do you think is the social impact of closing Chifley primary school? What are the economic and social impacts of closing Rivett primary school?” You have not asked those questions and the people involved have not been given the opportunity to give answers.
Mr Stefaniak’s motion today is about the real future of education. It is more than 30 years since we inquired into the future of education in the ACT. Ms Porter says that the education system is in the doldrums, it is failing, and parents are abandoning it like a sinking ship. If the Labor Party thinks that, they should be saying to the community, “Gee, we think we are in the doldrums. What do you, the owners of this system, think we should do, as a community, together, collectively?” The Chief Minister uses newspeak such as “educational renewal”. I had a letter from a constituent the other day that said, “Please do not write back to me and tell me why you consider closing 39 schools is renewal, because it is not”.
The people of the ACT know that if you take away a quarter of the schools, which would more than decimate the school system in the ACT, you will not be renewing the school system and you will not be creating an environment where people will not want to
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