Page 2244 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 August 2016
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populations in the northern suburbs across Canberra are seeing a new influx of young families. I am confident that this demand is reflected in the funding package delivered by the ACT government in the 2016-17 budget, which responds to evidence-based needs.
As a government, we will continue to plan for our schools in a way that gives continuity to the surrounding community and delivers quality education to kids attending school, no matter what stage of growth their school is at. I commend the minister’s amendment to the Assembly.
MR DOSZPOT (Molonglo) (4.04): Mr Rattenbury expressed some concern. He said that he has told us everything and that we should know better than to think other than that everything is going well, that the planning is there, that we can change definitions and still come up with the correct plans. He asks why it is so important that we are making such a fuss about it.
Mr Rattenbury, the issues that we are trying to face head on are issues that I have got from talking to the schools, talking to the school communities, talking to school principals, talking to teachers. It is their concerns that I am reflecting and have been reflecting for the better part of 2½ years.
I said these things 2½ years ago when Ms Burch was education minister. We were told that everything was fine, that in all of the four directorates there were no capacity issues. I have to say that I did have higher expectations of Mr Rattenbury when he took over. I am very disappointed that he is still not listening to the real issues. It is a bit concerning.
Minister Rattenbury mentioned the fact that I have brought up all these issues regarding school capacity. I have done so in the interests of the school community, of the principals who are forced to work under the conditions they work under, the conditions that teachers have to work under, and in the interests of children who are shunted between rooms, for example, from a normal class to a library where science experiments are carried out because there is no other room available.
It is also interesting that Mr Rattenbury has mentioned the Canberra Times. I guess he has got more good mileage from the Canberra Times than many other people in this place, but he seems to find the criticism that finally has been given to him to be a bit of a problem.
Let me quote a complete Canberra Times editorial—headed “Massaging school capacity figures is not management”—that was published on 16 June:
Earlier this month, Education Minister Shane Rattenbury advised the Legislative Assembly that “the definition of school capacity has been expanded to ensure that all learning and teaching spaces, including curriculum flexibility spaces and special education spaces … have been included”.
The elucidation was little remarked upon at the time, being part of a longish statement Mr Rattenbury gave in relation to the tabling of the 2017-18 enrolment projections for Canberra public schools. Mr Rattenbury’s media release of the
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