Page 3558 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 15 November 2006
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to Canberra: 39 schools. Check the suburb you are buying in when you move to Canberra; if it has a school today it might not have it tomorrow.”
Let us go to the eight points in the minister’s amendment. Here is his answer. “Let us just ignore the problem. I am the third minister. Minister 1 ignored it; minister 2 ignored it. I am minister 3 and probably will not be minister for education when the election comes, so it does not matter; I can get away with this.” Paragraph (1) of the amendment says that the Assembly:
recognises that the Government’s Towards 2020: Renewing our Schools proposal includes the largest investment in the ACT’s public school system since self-government …
So I ask the question: why do we need the largest investment in the ACT’s public school system since self-government? It is because it has been ignored for the last five years. There is a hole in the roof of Curtin primary school and water puddles in the middle of the quadrangle because of it. What did you do about that last year, the year before that and the year before that? What about the OH&S and safety concerns that this government purport to have but they have not fixed the roof? It is like the convention centre. There are holes in its roof, too, and five years later the government still have not fixed them. The reason they have now got to put in what they claim to be the largest investment in the ACT public school system since self-government is that they have ignored it for five years. No wonder people are leaving in droves. Paragraph (2) says:
notes that the proposal includes $67 million for the establishment of new schools in West Belconnen and Gungahlin, and $1 million for a feasibility study for a joint secondary college and CIT campus in Gungahlin …
They are spending $67 million for a new school. Why not spend the $67 million on renovating all the schools in Belconnen and bringing them all up to standard and keeping them open? After all, they are only saving two per cent of the budget. That is what the target is: two per cent of the education budget—total devastation to so many communities across the territory to save two per cent. As for the $1 million for a feasibility study for a joint secondary college and CIT campus in Gungahlin, it is not a feasibility study at all. This came up in estimates as well, Mr Deputy Speaker, and you will remember that it is for planning, siting and development—doing the plan. I am sure you could get a better quote for a feasibility study for less than $1 million. Then we have them slapping themselves on the back: paragraph (3) says:
commends the government on the $90 million … upgrade package that forms part of the wider Towards 2020 investment …
Well, that is just catch-up. It seriously is just catch-up because, like his two previous colleagues, as education minister, this minister is responsible for ignoring education in the ACT. Paragraph (4) says:
notes that the Government is backing its $90 million capital investment with an extra $3 million per annum … to keep our schools properly maintained …
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