Page 2827 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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Weston Creek Woden Dodgers basketball club, to give them an additional venue to train at. Literally with a couple of thousand dollars and a little bit of change in the process, we were able to make much better community use of that facility. I think there are further opportunities like that that we can continue to harness.
I welcome that reference in Ms Orr’s motion, because I think it is an important point to remember, and one that we need to keep our directorates focused on, to make sure we unleash those easy opportunities. They do take a bit of work, but I think they really are the low-hanging fruit when it comes to getting some good outcomes and the best use of our government infrastructure.
The final area that I would like to focus on is to categorically put on the record again my support for the safe schools program. As disappointing as it is unsurprising, the noxious fear campaigns regarding the LGBTIQ community have begun in earnest since the federal government announced the most expensive and offensive survey in our country’s history. The postal survey on same-sex marriage or marriage equality, which was announced with no legal protections against misleading communications, has acted like a beacon call to those who have objections to safe schools.
To be clear, there can be informed debate on this issue. I can understand parents and carers wanting to know more about safe schools or seeking clarification about its aims and methods. What I cannot abide is the sudden proliferation of what can at best be described as “fake news” currently doing the rounds. The safe schools program in the ACT has, thankfully, to the best of my knowledge, not been the subject of some of the more extreme mistruths being peddled in other states.
To those with genuine questions or those who have concerns, I encourage you to seek briefings or meetings with your school community. Go and talk to the principals and the teachers and get their insights into how this program actually operates on the ground. To others, who are simply repeating the rubbish of the ultra right-wing conservatives, I implore you to look more closely at the purpose of this program, to reflect on the impact that hateful and hurtful comments can have on others and perhaps just try to walk a little in someone else’s shoes.
The safe schools program is there for a very good reason, because young people who are uncertain about their identity should be able to access information. All students should be given insight into the vulnerabilities that some can experience. And all students should be given guidance on how to approach what are really sometimes confronting and challenging questions in a way that is safe and respectful for everybody. For me, that is what the safe schools program is about, and that is why the Greens completely support the program. We believe it does provide a mechanism for those issues to be sorted out and for students to be given the skills to approach difference and to approach diversity with sensitivity and with an open mind.
The Greens will be supporting Ms Orr’s motion today. We will not be supporting Mr Wall’s amendment. He has raised some quite interesting issues and certainly issues that warrant discussion in the education debate. I will not go through all of them now. As I say, it is not that we completely dismiss the issues that he has raised,
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