Page 2098 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 15 August 2006
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increase. I think these should be referred to the standing committee on education and training so the committee can investigate these matters and report to the Assembly.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Industrial Relations) (10.31): The government will not be supporting the motion. I believe the normal practice is that petitions are referred to the relevant minister. I am happy to receive the petitions. That is standard practice. I will continue to support that practice and will welcome the receipt of those petitions.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (10.32): I would like to support Mrs Dunne’s motion, especially seeing I have had tabled today almost 3,000 signatures from people who are very concerned about the closure of Dickson College. I believe that would have to be one of the least politically astute decisions to include on a list of schools for closure by the government in its 2020 plan.
Dickson College is one of the schools that has seen a rise in enrolments since its closure was mooted. This I think is a case of the community voting with its feet for a college which has served a very strong function in that community.
My daughter went to Dickson College back in the eighties. It has a tradition, it is a school that is fighting very hard for its existence. It is a school which provides facilities in the inner north. I think the fact that they can gather 2,910 signatures at short notice indicates that it should be referred to the standing committee on education and training. I am very disappointed that Mr Barr has stood up, as he has, and said that this cannot happen.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Planning) (10.33): The difficulty the government has is that the opposition and Dr Foskey have not, in any way, demonstrated what the purpose of doing this is.
The purpose of a petition is to draw to the attention of the Assembly issues of concern held by residents, and that has effectively been done. I do not think anyone in this Assembly is in any doubt as to the views of some residents when it comes to questions about the proposal to close certain schools. To suggest that a referral to the committee is going to add anything further to that process I think is a very difficult argument to mount.
The purpose of a petition is to draw to the attention of members of the Assembly residents’ concerns. That has been done. It has been done by the lodgment of those petitions in this place. The opposition have not mounted any cogent argument as to why a referral to the standing committee on education will in any way further that cause.
All members in this place are aware of these issues. The minister will have these issues brought to his direct attention because the petition was referred to him. We fail to see what a reference to the committee will do. There seems to be no cogent argument supporting it. That is why the government will not support the motion.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.34), in reply: It is an unusual practice in this place to refer petitions to committees, but it is not unprecedented. The closures this government
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