Page 2929 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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a deplorable situation and one that the government has seen fit to laugh about in this place. It beggars belief. Obviously the Stanhope government—pardon this expression—have not done their homework when it comes to school closures.
Let us have a look at a school in question in my electorate, Narrabundah primary school. No wonder there is widespread community resistance to the government’s proposal to merge Narrabundah primary school with Red Hill. Mr Speaker, you may remember this. People have seen this all before. It was not pleasant. In 1992 Narrabundah primary school merged with Griffith primary school, up the road. In early 1993, what happened? Griffith closed because it was no longer viable.
How can we be sure that these mergers are not going to have this impact? Thirty-nine schools have been named; 39 schools are out there. People are racing around trying to garner support: “Get people to come to my school, enrol at my school.” What a deplorable situation we have put the community in. It is a disgrace. At the beginning of 1991, Griffith, with 213 students, was much bigger than Narrabundah. By the time it closed in 1993, there were just 32 students left. It should sound warning bells for the government.
I believe, in a forthright manner, that all members of this Assembly should be courageous enough to stand behind the central tenet of Dr Foskey’s bill, and that is to aid the Stanhope government in making the right decision, not a hasty decision. We need to have significant investigation into the closure of an enormous amount of schools. That is already having an enormous impact upon the community.
I know you are having to tough this out, minister. I know you are having to sit there and take all this. Cannot you do anything? You are the minister. Surely you have the power. Do you have the sway in cabinet or do you not? Or are you all of the one mind, even those people who disagreed with it and now all of a sudden are flip-flopping and agreeing with it? What a mess! What an awful place for those people, who did not want this to go ahead, to be in—those Labor members who have had to stand up and say in one place, “No, we do not want it to happen,” but in this place have to say, “We have got to go with the flow; it has got to happen.” I am very, very sad for those people.
This moratorium is designed to allow sufficient time frames to be set and proper investigation of all the options. That will in turn allow for better education outcomes for Canberra’s children. I am absolutely perplexed by the rush and race. I have been told by one principal, or two or more, that they were told about this on the afternoon of the budget and then were told by parents, “We saw it in the paper.” How charming is that? Are we really thinking about children? It beggars belief.
The Liberal opposition is simply calling upon the government to take a sensible approach to conducting more comprehensive inquiries into school closures. The government says that the opposition wants to delay things. If it means a delay, it means a darn delay. But let us get this right. Let us make absolutely sure. Let us make it more public, open and transparent—the lovely words you like to use. Show people why you are doing what you are doing. Show people what you are doing.
Mr Hargreaves: Meet them more often!
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