Page 3250 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 13 November 2007
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I would like to think that all members in this place would support the school in achieving those outcomes and support the family, rather than dragging them through the mud again with another set of muck-raking allegations, dragging this story on when there is no story. The school and the principal and all the staff at the school have been adamant that the allegations that were made and aired in the media were not true.
I do not know why the shadow minister would seek to use the Assembly to bring it all up again, for no particular reason. As I have indicated throughout the process, right from when 2CC first approached my office in the last weekend of October, my advice from the school was subsequently confirmed and reconfirmed and confirmed by the principal on camera to those media outlets because they seemingly were not happy with the response from me indicating that this story was not true. The principal then wrote a letter to all members of the school community. But even that was not enough for members of the opposition and the media. The principal then had to go and front the cameras the following week to indicate again, for about the seventh time, that there was no truth to this story.
Mr Stanhope: Are you calling the principal a liar?
MR BARR: Now the situation is that effectively the opposition is saying that the principal—
Mrs Dunne: No, I was not. I was saying she did not have to front the cameras. He should have done the job.
MR BARR: and the school community and the teachers—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Barr, resume your seat. There are far too many interjections. Everybody should cease interjecting. Mr Barr has the floor.
MR BARR: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Effectively what Mrs Dunne is arguing is that the school principal was lying and that the senior staff of the school are lying.
Mr Stanhope: That is what Mrs Dunne thinks.
MR BARR: That is the imputation in the question.
Mr Stanhope: All the teachers are lying.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Chief Minister!
MR BARR: And that everyone who has been engaged in the variety of pastoral care assistance for this particular student, who we acknowledge has difficulties and needs assistance and the help of this community—and, one would like to think, the help of the political leaders in this community—to finish year 10 and to quit smoking. As I say, they are the two outcomes we want from this sorry incident.
It is unfortunate that the opposition and certain elements of the media, notably interstate media, sought to prey on this family and offer inducements to tell stories.
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