Page 2203 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 August 2006
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That the petitions relating to proposed school closures be referred to the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People.
These are different petitions from the petitions that were tabled yesterday and this is a live issue in the community. The community wants and is crying out for consultation on this issue. The Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People is an ideal avenue for consultation—it is not the only avenue—where the community’s voice can be heard. In the same way as the community’s voice was heard, in part, at estimates committee hearings it would be useful for many people and organisations who have gathered these petitions together to make submissions to the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People on the value of their schools.
The Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People might then be able to participate with the community and get to the bottom of the government’s decisions and its decisions relating to particular schools. The government has been completely unforthcoming in relation to this important issue. Many members of the community have signed these petitions. More than 8,000 signatures were received yesterday and another 5,000 or 6,000 were received today, which is unprecedented. That is why the mechanism that is available in this Assembly should be followed.
Community concern on this issue is unprecedented and that is why the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People should be an active participant in advising this Assembly on school closures and school consolidations. This renewal process, which many people think will not renew, will not make our education system any better. These institutions are called government schools but we have to recognise that the ACT Labor Party or the ACT Labor government does not own them; Canberra taxpayers own them and Canberra taxpayers must have a say in the future of their schools.
If we stop calling schools government schools, government members might come around to the idea that they do not own them and that they are not the only people who have a say in their future. The people of Canberra have a say in their education system. When I go round shopping centres, visit and talk to constituents, or do any polling I find that education is one of the biggest issues that causes people to change their vote and to engage in the political system. The government has caused a crisis in our community-owned and funded education system, which is why we must make available as many avenues as possible for the community’s voice to be heard.
If members of the community continue to bring members of the Liberal Party petitions in support of their schools we will use whatever means we have to ensure that those petitioners are heard. Community members work hard collecting thousands of signatures on pieces of paper. Those petitions are referred to the minister who says, “Yes, very nice, thank you very much”, they are put in a drawer, and nothing is done with them. My constituents are working over weekends and in their spare time—time that should be spent with their children helping with them their homework and taking them to sport. That has all been put on hold so that they can save their schools. The least I can do for constituents in Hall, Giralang and Cook is to ensure that their voices are heard in this place.
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