Page 4004 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 5 December 2007
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long-term sustainability of our public education system; it was essential to respond to the educational needs of our system, the financial needs of our system, to ensure that resources were directed equitably and efficiently; and it was essential to respond to the changing demographics—and no-one in this debate has contested the demographics.
Dr Foskey talks about some people doing their own suburban census. Frankly, Dr Foskey, whilst I respect the work that those communities did, in the end the government will rely on the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the census—
Dr Foskey: Which were out of date.
MR BARR: The 2006 census—the data that was available and released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and that I do not think anyone is contesting. I am very happy to table the age pyramid that looks at the changes in the demography of this city. Again I quote from the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for the school age population in the ACT. The area with the largest decline in primary and secondary was the suburb of Kambah. Looking forward, and looking at those suburbs, the birth rates there are still lower than they had ever been when those suburbs were developing.
This city now has 340,000 people, yet we still have only just over 4,000 births a year. Back in 1977, when we were going through a massive growth phase and the population was just over 200,000, we had 4,000 births in a year. We have the lowest fertility rate in Australia. We have the fastest ageing population in Australia. No-one is contesting that.
Again, look at the census data from 2007. For year 11—this year—the cohort across all schools is 5,020. Kindergarten this year across all schools is 4,198. There were just over 4,000 births in the ACT this year. That is the cohort we are going to have going forward. So 5,000 students move out of the entire education system and just over 4,000 are coming in. Demographic change. We do not need—
Dr Foskey: It’s a problem and it needs to be addressed.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Dr Foskey.
MR BARR: We do not need 190 schools across this city. We took some difficult decisions and looked forward—looked at the projections, looked at where the growth was. Gungahlin is where there are new schools and high demand. That is where we have more than 200 enrolments for preschool in individual schools. But in the older areas—in Causeway, for example, there were four. How can you run a preschool program with four students? You cannot. You cannot run it properly. You need a sufficient size. Kids need peers. They need friends. They need the opportunity to engage in the entire curriculum. You cannot offer that in schools that are micro, that are tiny.
Dr Foskey: It is not about that. It is not about that, Andrew.
MR BARR: This argument that, because for 17 years it was ignored, we should not look at it now—
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