Page 2236 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 August 2016
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But the community is smartening up. There is a higher level of distrust in the government. No matter how much Minister Rattenbury is trying this week and last to distance himself from Labor, and how much Labor tries to rewrite history, it is not fooling anyone.
Ask families of Telopea Park School and the MOCCA community about trust in the current government, including the total cabinet, which includes a Green education minister. They make no distinction between a Greens minister and a Labor minister because both have let them down and failed to communicate openly and honestly with them. That is why, in this motion, I am calling on the government to own their mistakes. They need to acknowledge that closing schools was a mistake and that doctoring enrolment methodology is not only unethical but also not very smart. The government need to commit to genuine and appropriate infrastructure upgrades and they need to be honest with parents about what the future options are for school enrolments, especially in those schools that simply cannot fit the number of students they need to.
The ACT public school system has much to be proud of. However, that is not as a result of but in spite of what this government has done with closing schools, neglecting schools, overcrowding schools, taking ovals from schools, promising schools upgrades years and years before they are delivered. Our schools deserve better. Under a Canberra Liberals government they will get better. We have already announced $60 million in additional funds to help address the chronic infrastructure problems. We have announced more money for special schools and we will be announcing more in the weeks to come. I commend the motion. (Time expired.)
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo—Minister for Corrections, Minister for Education, Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs and Minister for Road Safety) (3.41): I have listened to Mr Doszpot’s dissertation on history; he left out important parts of that history, and I will take the time to fill those blanks in for him so that we do not have such a selective take on it.
What he does know, I imagine, is the ACT’s position and concerns 10 years or more ago on the school closures. That is well and truly on the record and I do not intend to repeat that today, but he did conveniently leave that out—or perhaps he just chose—
Mr Doszpot interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: It has taken Mr Doszpot only about 32 seconds to start interjecting in my speech, which again underlines the very contempt he holds for the standing orders of this place and the rudeness of his demeanour.
Mr Doszpot’s motion today reads as though it was another shadow education spokesperson that brought a motion to this place in April of this year on similar issues. It also appears that, at best, Mr Doszpot was not in the chamber on 9 June this year, as I comprehensively answered the questions which he puts again in today’s motion.
I acknowledge the pressures facing some ACT public schools. Today Mr Doszpot has come in here and again selectively ignored the fact that I have been quite open about
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