Page 3280 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 September 2014
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In summary, my view is that we have much to be proud of in our education system in the ACT. I am committed to ensuring that it continues to grow and strengthen to provide the best for our community. There is no doubt that achieving good educational outcomes is one of the best things we can do for children and young people in Canberra. I think the ACT is doing well, and we must continue to strive to maintain the highest possible standards in the territory.
MR DOSZPOT (Molonglo) (4.43): I thank Mr Smyth for bringing this matter of public importance to the Assembly this afternoon, the importance of government getting its education priorities right for ACT residents.
Last week I raised a motion in this Assembly on the lack of maintenance in our public schools. There were several incidents that were known about at Gowrie, at Belconnen High, and at Birrigai, and there were probably many more minor issues that were dealt with by teaching staff who either knew there was no money in their budget to fix the issues or thought it was not worth the grief to make a formal repair request.
I pointed out that an overwhelming number of schools in the ACT are more than 50 years old, and so it was inevitable that their maintenance issues would only get worse, not better, over time. I also highlighted the recent research that demonstrated that several of our schools are already over capacity, that several more would move that way in the next few years. I pointed out that, other than changing the priority enrolment areas for schools and putting in transportable or demountable or modular classrooms, planning was vague at best. That had already been demonstrated when a decision was taken by Labor to close 23 schools, against a body of evidence from parents and the community that suggested many of those decisions were wrong, and they were, because the overcrowded schools are in those areas today.
I was at pains to point out that, despite the Labor government getting its priorities wrong and its judgement lacking in what moneys and priorities needed to be directed to education, we had a first-class education system with teachers who, in many cases, struggled with overcrowded classrooms in rooms that last summer were over 35 degrees on some days, but still delivered quality teaching.
The minister of course chose to ignore what I have said—she has repeated her mantra again this afternoon—and she instead pulled out her set piece of rhetoric about how I always run down ACT education. She did not acknowledge the ageing infrastructure but instead highlighted how commonwealth government money had delivered great gymnasiums, libraries and outside covered areas to many ACT schools.
She pointed out how good Taylor Primary School was, how effective Duffy’s modular rooms were and what a showpiece Gungahlin College was. She completely missed the point, and she still does, that Duffy’s modular classrooms were a consequence of poor enrolment planning, that Taylor Primary was a consequence of not recognising that the school was in a poor state and therefore was prey to some bad weather. And of course Gungahlin College is the showpiece school that this government never fails to highlight, as it should. But it is just one college—one school in a system that is expected to educate 70,000 students.
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