Page 4096 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 13 December 2006
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going into schools where it is a sort of cross-subsidisation, we might say. The loss of the Hall and Tharwa schools, from my experience of those communities, is a really cruel blow. There are not many voters there, I suppose. Is it so cynical, or is there a bias against small schools that do the job?
I want to go through some of the other decisions which I think are rather anomalous. They do not make sense. Kambah high school is going to close. We are promised a you-beaut school—I am not going to use the word “superschool” because, if it is, it might take off and fly away like Superman. It has this look of gloss and so on, but unpick these concepts. It closes, but there is no new school until 2011. What happens in the meantime? What happened to the proposal, which I thought Mr Barr was looking at reasonably favourably, to make Kambah high the TAFE outpost of Tuggeranong? Maybe we will see a you-beaut CIT branch down there at some time. These communities have special needs due to their demography. That is something I do not see reflected in these decisions, unless it is that more powerful communities had more sway or that deals were made with backbenchers. I do not know.
Mr Barr: Oh, crikey.
DR FOSKEY: You tell me, Mr Barr; I am asking you. It was interesting to hear that more electronic communication for parents will be set up. I reckon they are going to need it because it is going to be harder for them to get the person-to-person interchange which I think is what makes a school community strong. There will always be some people who are willing to front the school community, but people who have had a hard time themselves at school are not the ones you will see down there walking the corridors, going in, seeing how their kids are going, and helping with the reading. They are probably not the ones who will be using the email and internet to tell the principal that their kid will not be at school today.
There is a certain smugness on the government benches. I suppose that is something you need to get you through today, because I do not think it has been a really good day for the government. I find the hide that you put up when people make constructive criticism really not useful. It is something the school communities have also experienced during this process.
I think it is very sad that we are seeing the end of Melrose primary school. That is a growing community. It is a sustainable school with programs that bring in the community. I think there are reasons why its numbers are low. I am sure the government knows those reasons. I think the school community fought very hard, despite those issues. I am very certain that that community are not going to sit down and let their school close, because there is a huge number of children coming up there. I am glad the preschool stays open. Lyons primary school is now P to 2. It is my belief that making a school a P to 2 is another way of saying it is going to close. We will see.
Mr Corbell: That is outrageous.
DR FOSKEY: Of course it is outrageous, Mr Corbell. Everything anyone else has said today has been outrageous, in your opinion. It is interesting that apparently that was not the case in Yarralumla. That is exactly what that school argued. It stays open
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