Page 3120 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 August 2005
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However, that seems at odds with Mrs Dunne’s comments on radio last week when discussing her amendment to the Civil Law (Wrongs) Act. When she was pressed on whether she had consulted on her proposed changes her response was:
… what you do in the course of this, is you introduce your legislation and say this is what we want to do, let’s talk about it. That’s the sort of normal course of events.
At one time or another the opposition has said it believes schools need to be closed, that the best outcome is four schools on one campus and the best form of consultation is to put a proposal to members of the community in order to obtain their views. That is exactly what we have done. In short, I believe that the Liberal Party agrees with every aspect of this proposal. The only problem appears to be the fact that the ACT government is making the suggestion rather than the Liberal opposition.
I have circulated an amendment that I intend to move to Mrs Dunne’s motion. Essentially, that amendment asks the Assembly to note that the ACT government has announced a proposal to build a new state-of-the-art school in west Belconnen, that the proposal will inject an additional $43 million worth of new infrastructure into the west Belconnen area; and that the proposal involves a multi-campus middle schooling model already used successfully elsewhere in the ACT.
Whilst my amendment acknowledges that the proposal will result in disruption to the current students of Ginninderra district high school, individual transitional plans are being put in place to address the educational needs of each student. The ACT government has commenced an extensive process of community consultation that is not due to conclude until September. Importantly, in response to community concerns and feedback, further work is being done by the ACT government. That information will be made available to the community prior to the next public meeting in September.
This government is being open and it is engaging in genuine consultation on the proposal that has been put to the west Belconnen community. We do not hide behind the fact that we are currently working through significant and difficult issues with those communities that would be affected if this proposal goes ahead. We are not saying that everything is hunky-dory; we acknowledge that difficult conversations have to be had but we are balancing those difficult conversations with the future educational needs of west Belconnen.
We are also taking into consideration the positive feedback we have had from the community. We have acknowledged our significant commitment of resources to an area in Canberra that is in need of it. Mr Stefaniak has on the notice paper a motion calling for better infrastructure in west Belconnen. This government acknowledges the push for infrastructure improvements in west Belconnen. We put forward a proposal that we know will affect a number of people. We are answering every question that has been asked of us and we are providing all the information we can.
Some information will not be made public. I have explained to those members of the community who have asked me that I will be making public as much information as I can. Any information that is not made public will not be made public for very good reasons. I am happy to discuss that matter further. This proposal is not about
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