Page 3252 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 October 2006
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justify it now?” We have got this convoluted mess called the 2020 process, with your eight or nine different varieties of education, most of which have had holes shot through them by a lot of educationalists and groups such as the P&C.
Why can you not accept a process like this—real consultation, real involvement with the Assembly on your decision, a decision which you so hastily made and, I suspect, will regret for some time, a decision which is causing great angst in our community and great problems within our school system? Because of the way you have made your decision—getting the consultation process totally around the wrong way, after the event—you are causing further problems with the six-month rule in legislation. This means you are going to announce a decision some time in December. This will cause absolute havoc for thousands of people for the next school year if you go ahead with your decision to close these 39 schools.
I know I might as well be bashing my head against a brick wall and talking to thin air rather than trying to make you lot change your minds, but I think you will regret the decision you have made. It is not in the best interests of education. A fair, open and consultative way is the way to go. It is a way that the community at least would respect government for doing it. That way, too, the community can probably accept some hard decisions that need to be made. They have shown they are capable of doing that in the past. But it is a question of taking them with you rather than just arbitrarily and arrogantly dictating to them. Mrs Dunne’s bill takes them with you.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Planning) (5.05): The government will be opposing this bill proposed by Mrs Dunne simply because it is just another attempt by her to derail the comprehensive community consultation process currently being undertaken as part of the Towards 2020 proposal. ACT residents who have children enrolled in government schools clearly and quite justifiably value their schools.
This is not surprising because our schools are an important part of the social fabric of our community. They develop high-quality educational and social outcomes. They develop citizenship skills in children and provide a place for people of all ages to come together, develop a sense of belonging and build a sense of community.
On another level, schools, like our homes, are places where we share experiences with members of our families and friends and where we build cherished and lifetime memories. This is the very reason why the process described in Mrs Dunne’s Education Amendment Bill 2006 (No 3) is misguided and will not work.
Mrs Dunne, in her words and in this bill, recognises the difficulties faced by our education systems and by some schools in particular. While overall we have declining enrolments due to a change in demographics, in some areas like Gungahlin there is a high demand for new schools, whereas in other areas there is an excess of schools.
It may come as a shock for Mrs Dunne to learn that many school communities and their boards have already been engaged in a process of investigation and consultation over a lengthy period of time. This is nothing new. These efforts in schools with declining enrolments have not returned the results we had all hoped for, despite everyone’s best efforts.
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