Page 2360 - Week 06 - Friday, 27 June 2008
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Well, that is simply not what I hear from most of the people that I speak to who have been involved in community consultation. I am closely involved in at least one of the schools that are in the process of transition. They feel that once they had expressed their initial views, well, that was it, and if they asked if they could give feedback on the second and third stages of plans they were told, “No, thank you very much. You had your say, and that is it.”
There are some people out there with some extraordinarily valuable contributions to make who really would like the system to work, but they are extraordinarily frustrated by the lack of consultation and the lack of a good hearing that they have got from departmental officials. I do not think that they see sustained, on-the-ground collaboration, which GSEC seems to think the minister is providing. It is also worth noting that the GSEC states:
Clearly the initial focus needed to be on the building works to establish the hub facilities and GSEC congratulates the departmental staff who have been involved in ensuring the necessary works are well in hand.
Let us talk about the necessary works and how well in hand they are. Mr Seselja touched on the shameful episode of Lyons primary school. Whatever happens to Lyons primary school in 2009, it will not be an early childhood school at the beginning of 2009, and that is all down to the handling of this issue by the department and the minister. (Second speaking period taken.)
What occurred at Lyons primary school, as Mr Seselja said, was the exposure of the callous way that the minister and his department attempted to deal with the children. Really, what it boiled down to was that the department, and presumably the minister, decided that to get their new project off and running at the beginning of next year they really had to chivvy out the kids who were there already and they really did not particularly care about what happened to those children. The school community was given a couple of options. None of those were particularly palatable to the school community and it was only after Mr Seselja publicly raised this issue that suddenly the department of education and the minister were prepared to talk to Lyons primary school.
I knew about Lyons primary school and I spoke to Mr Seselja in my capacity as shadow minister for education. I also knew that other schools were being put in a similar position. I know that Southern Cross primary school was told in meetings that it would be closed down before the end of the year. It was uncertain what was going to happen to the children at Narrabundah primary school, but it seemed that the children at Isabella Plains would be able to be accommodated on site because there was enough room to move them around. They were told, “We will shift you from here to there and shuffle you around for a couple of terms. It will be all right because most of you will not be here next year.” But the principal at Southern Cross primary school was told that her school would be closed before the end of the year and most of those children would be shunted around, and then they would be shunted again because they would be expected to go to the new west Belconnen school when it opened in 2009. Most of those children would get two moves.
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