Page 2766 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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(2) calls on the government to:
(a) undertake more regular and more detailed maintenance audits of our public school infrastructure so that Canberra families can be certain their children are safe at ACT public schools;
(b) consult more widely with the community on the future needs of Canberra families in respect of school size, location and facilities;
(c) commit additional funds this financial year to deliver improvements to those schools that have been waiting years for upgrades including cooling and heating in classrooms;
(d) make public the government’s plans and timeline for future upgrades to Canberra schools; and
(e) make school infrastructure a priority.
On Tuesday, 6 May this year, there was an electrical incident at Gowrie Primary School that resulted in a staff member being hospitalised and students at both the primary and preschools being forced to relocate for three days. The primary school classes were relocated to Birrigai. Later that month, Canberra Girls Grammar was forced to cancel a camp at Birrigai due to asbestos concerns. Last month, an electrical fault emergency at Belconnen High School forced the school to evacuate 450 students and staff. Last week, a fire alarm at Lyneham High School forced staff and students at that school to be evacuated. In 2012, Taylor Primary School was closed for 18 months after wind damage exposed loose asbestos and the school required $13 million of emergency restoration and rebuild.
Gowrie Primary School was opened in 1983. Belconnen High School was opened in 1971 and is awaiting a $28 million 2012 election commitment to be upgraded. Lyneham High School was opened in 1959. Taylor Primary School was first opened in 1978.
One could suggest, and no doubt the minister will say, that these incidents are just unfortunate happenstances. Unfortunate, yes, they are; happenstance, no, they are not. Happenstance in my dictionary suggests something that happens by chance. In these incidents, it was not chance that the switchboards were faulty. It was an inevitability. And I suggest these recent events will not be, and are not, isolated cases.
We have an impressive public education record in the ACT. Our schools regularly score well in NAPLAN testing; our teachers are the recipients of national awards for teaching excellence. And it is true that even some of our school buildings have won national awards for architecture. Gungahlin College is, by any measure, state of the art. It cost $63 million to build and, my understanding is, several million more dollars were spent in fitout. But it is one of a small handful of schools that fit that category. We heard recently that Coombs school, a $45 million promise in the 2012 election which was due to start last year, is now a $47 million dollar promise with proposed construction to start this financial year. Harrison school is impressive in its design and layout.
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