Page 2706 - Week 09 - Thursday, 9 August 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
School Closures
MR STEVENSON: My question is to Mr Humphries and it concerns a request from a constituent. Has the Minister considered approaching the parents whose children are attending the schools which are to be closed or amalgamated and suggesting to them that they could pay extra fees if they wished to keep their schools open?
MR HUMPHRIES: The idea did briefly flit through my mind and I dismissed it very quickly because I considered it to be an idea with little merit. If we were to start charging particular schools on the basis of the fact that they were a particular size, I think we would have a very discriminatory policy developing in the Territory where certain people paid for government schools and certain people did not. That is not a satisfactory basis for discrimination. I am not prepared to endorse that approach. Also, I might point out that it has not been endorsed by any number of parents.
I was perfectly prepared to consider any proposal that was put by these school communities in respect of possible ways in which the Government might save money and many such suggestions came forward. But to suggest that we could save money by charging fees in certain government schools is not an acceptable one.
School Closures
MR CONNOLLY: My question is to the Minister for Education. As a result of the announced school closures, what are now the greatest distances that children will have to walk to attend their new schools and how long will it take a six-year-old to walk those distances?
MR HUMPHRIES: My colleague, Mr Duby, says that I should get you to try it to find out. However, this is not a test of mental age so it would not be terribly relevant.
Mr Wood: The parents are walking the kids to school now and they are appalled at what they have to do.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Wood jumps up and down every time I am about to answer a question. I do not know why he is not happy to have me answer these questions that I - - -
Mr Wood: Because you have no care, that is why.
MR HUMPHRIES: I have every care, Mr Wood.
MR ACTING SPEAKER: Order, members! If you want to chat amongst yourselves, I am sure Mr Humphries will be happy to just stand there and say nothing. Let him answer the question.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .