Page 3965 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 12 December 2006
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We have seen that the technicality of provisions of the Education Act, rather than the intent, can be, and has been, pursued since the 2004 election. The decision to push through the closure of Ginninderra district high school was one. The argument that the 2020 proposal needed to be decided on at the very end of this year because of the statutory six-month consultation period is another.
The big issues around free, high quality, secular public education centre on national education policy on the one hand and community development on the other. The proportion of school activities paid for with parents’ or kids’ money, who pays and who does not, and who participates and who does not are all indicators of equal opportunity. The Greens will continue to watch closely the level of fees and charges associated with our public education.
I am pleased that the government is honouring its agreement with the P&C and concerned citizens and is withdrawing the contentious clause. I want to thank Vicki Dunne, who told me at the beginning of the sitting today that she had just received the eight pages of amendments. Questions asked of my staff indicated that my office had not received those amendments. Indeed, it required a phone call from my office to the minister’s office for those amendments to arrive. I know that many members here consider the crossbench to be irrelevant, but that is the highest evidence of that consideration that we have so far seen.
We received the amendments probably three-quarters of an hour or maybe an hour after Mrs Dunne and it just has not been possible for us to have a look at them. I think that most members understand that in a small office like mine, which has got to be across everything, the opportunity to have a really good look at those amendments by this afternoon is limited. To do our job properly, we would scrutinise the bill—that is, read it—and consult with relevant community organisations. It is an extremely difficult thing to do even if those organisations were available at short notice. Remember, they need to discuss and consider those amendments themselves amongst their own constituencies. The minister may stand up and say that all that has been done very thoroughly, but given that his office forgot to tell us about these amendments that were prepared last Friday, I will take that with a grain of salt.
Even if the government has a majority, if this place is to do its work effectively, it needs to function collaboratively. We all have a part to play here in ensuring that the legislation that goes through this place is good legislation, that it reflects the best interests of our community, most particularly those people who are more and more the clients of our public school system, the people whose parents often are not in a position to consider the kinds of changes that are happening to their schools and to speak out about them.
We do understand that the education minister’s office is very busy right now, but their disorganised approach to dealing with their own legislation does not help to build community confidence in their ability to deliver education in this town. A cursory glance at the amendment to delete clause 9, which is purportedly technical, indicates that these changes are far more profound than that. Mr Deputy Speaker, this is the school closure team at work.
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