Page 2287 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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legislation has the moral backing of the Greens. Unfortunately, in regard to education, the moral backing of the Greens does not amount to a great deal in this place, because—
Ms Bresnan: Like your advertising legislation.
Ms Hunter: We must throw that into the speech. Thanks, Amanda, for reminding me.
Mrs Dunne: She made a joke!
Ms Bresnan: We laugh at our own jokes.
MR SMYTH: Laughing at our own jokes, are we? Well, they are the best jokes to laugh at. Nobody else will laugh at their jokes. The problem here is that, if you look at the technical detail in the bill, if you were looking for something that was quite tough, if you were looking for something that was going to hold the government to account, this is not it. This does not make it any tougher. Any wonder the government will support it. You could certainly live with this as a bill, because you could drive holes through it, and that is why this bill should go down.
The shadow minister or the convenor or the spokesperson—whatever title is used here—should just simply withdraw the bill and go away and start again. If you really want to get some confidence back in the community, if you want people to think you are sincere about this issue, if you want people to know that this legislation will make a difference, this is not the way to go about this. This is not the legislation to pass in this circumstance when you have got a minister bending over backwards to say, “Yes, we love this.” No wonder he loves it, because it does not stop him and it does not hinder and it does not protect our schools in the future and the people of Tharwa. It will give absolutely no confidence to those people that anything has changed in the Assembly. The only thing they can be confident about is that the only organisation protecting the future of their schools in the future is, of course, the Liberal Party.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (3.41), in reply: I thank members for their contributions to this important debate. When I presented this bill in December 2008 I indicated that the ACT Greens were committed to making sure that the distressing school closure processes experienced in 2006 would not happen again and this bill ensures that decisions to amalgamate or close government schools are made in a rigorous, thoughtful and transparent manner.
The current act is inadequate. In addition to the widespread concern expressed following the school closures of 2006, we have only to look at the fact that the Assembly committee late last year, after its inquiry into school closures and reform of the education system, made 15 recommendations designed to address the errors and shortcomings of that closure process. There were 76 submissions to and 30 witnesses before that inquiry, many representing large community or school groups. All had views on how the process was handled and how it could be improved.
This is the point of this bill. People want us to learn from the lessons of 2006 and ensure that no-one goes through that experience again. Parents and their children
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