Page 2921 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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We have said this before: if you want to see how to go about consulting with the community, take a leaf out of history. Let us wind back the clock to 1999-2000 and have a look at that document which my colleague Mrs Dunne attempted to get into legislation here in May. It has stood the test of time. Good documents usually do. We ended up with your consultation model which you are now going through after the event. Ours walked school communities through these difficult decisions. And, ladies and gentlemen, it worked.
It worked in the case of Melba and Spence. That school community went through an extensive consultation period, about a 12-month period, and the Spence campus amalgamated into the Melba campus. There were six parents who were not happy with that. You would expect that out of a school community of about 300 people. You lot then were even sceptical about that. You lot even then were bleating about how Melba should not close. At least that was a document which enabled school communities to go through it in a logical, sensible way before the event. I remind you again, while we are talking history, of Rivett and Duffy. They are both closing, are they not, Mrs Dunne, under this lot’s proposal?
Mrs Dunne: No, only Rivett.
MR STEFANIAK: Right. Rivett and Duffy almost got to that stage but by about step 4 they decided, “We will not go ahead.” That was fine. We accepted it. That is a case of a school community going down that track, baulking and not going ahead. Again, it was talking to people, enabling the school community to be taken into our confidence, to be working with them, not against them.
We support Dr Foskey’s moratorium. Mrs Dunne has some sensible amendments which enhance this particular proposal. This is not a “stunt”. You people should be in a circus, the number of times you have used that word. This is a genuine attempt to have a serious look at the issue of school closures, not to engage in a sham consultation up to early December and then have an absolute mad rush, which is going to be devastating for families and school communities in terms of what they do after they find out whether or not their school is closing. We have no indication from this government that they are not going to go ahead and close all 39. There will be absolute pandemonium and chaos in December, whatever happens here. This moratorium gives that a chance to be at least stopped, put on hold and done in a logical way. The illogicality of what you are proposing is there for all to see.
I have mentioned the Towards 2020 document and one aspect of it. The other aspect is—and the community is asking this, and Mrs Dunne and I get it from Mr Seselja, Mr Mulcahy, Mrs Burke, no doubt Ms Porter, Ms MacDonald and you, Mr Speaker—what is the real reason for this? Is it the real estate value? Maybe it is. Let us have a look. There is a very good chunk there. I hate to be a cynic, but that is probably highly likely.
You only have to look at what schools are being chosen. Let us take north Belconnen as an example. We start with Kaleen. We have got two schools there, Kaleen primary and Maribyrnong primary. We now move to Giralang, a model suburb. Seventy per cent of the kids in Giralang go to Giralang primary. It is a school with a great record. It is a school where they walk to school. You, Mr Speaker, know that. Surely we want to
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