Page 904 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 2 April 2008
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Question so resolved in the affirmative.
Amendment agreed to.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (5.46): I seek leave to move an amendment that has been circulated in my name to the motion.
Leave granted.
DR FOSKEY: I move:
Add:
(8) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) review the proposed school closures and restructures planned for December 2008, in consultation with school communities, teachers and other key stakeholders;
(b) establish a school reinstatement fund to help government schools closed in 2006 and 2007 re-open where viable; and
(c) firmly commit to no further school closures before 2013 other than those outlined in the Towards 2020 reform process.
I certainly am not comfortable with leaving in the minutes of the proceedings the motion that was passed just now by a majority in this Assembly, as it reads that it has the support of the Assembly. Consequently, I have moved my amendment. It was initially an amendment to Mr Seselja’s motion, because I felt that paragraph 2 of his motion was too reflective of Liberal Party policy and not reflective of all the other perspectives in this house. There are Liberals, an independent and a member of the Greens who are concerned about what we have before us now.
My amendment to the motion calls on the ACT government to review the proposed school closures and restructures planned for December 2008 in consultation with school communities, teachers and other key stakeholders. That is what we pragmatically can do. This is a pragmatic amendment. It further seeks to establish a school reinstatement fund to help government schools closed in 2006 and 2007 to reopen where viable—that was also pretty much taken from the Liberal Party’s motion—and to firmly commit to no further school closures before 2013, other than those outlined in the Towards 2020 reform process. It is not as strict as I would like it to be.
I would like to think that we could stop some of the closures that have not happened yet. But, as I said, this is a pragmatic amendment and I believe that there are parts of this that the government could agree to, and it would be very nice if we had something today that was positive and so that we could tell the community, “This is what is going to happen,” although not that no schools will close. I seek the support of members in the Assembly for my amendment.
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