Page 3548 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 15 November 2006
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schools. This was one of the things that came out of the debate about west Belconnen. Minister Gallagher at the time said, “Look, all these people drive past west Belconnen high and they go to St Francis Xavier.” The people in the room said, “Why don’t you find out why they drive past? Can we address it?” This government’s solution to people driving past west Belconnen high school was to pull it down and build a bauble in its place.
No-one could say that west Belconnen high school did not need investment in its infrastructure. It had been let run down. I had the tour of the school. Lots of the parents told me that it was not really all that bad, but I saw it. I saw it warts and all, and it was a school that had been sadly neglected. That might be one of the reasons why people drove past west Belconnen high school and took their children to St Francis Xavier. We do not know. The minister at that stage would not find out why the 9,000-odd households in west Belconnen were not sending their children to that school and why they were choosing, for example, St Francis Xavier high school instead. They would not find out.
The challenge for this minister today is to accept this motion, to find out why people are driving past our government schools, especially our government high schools, the area that I am most concerned about, and then to spend the $90 million wisely.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Industrial Relations) (4.30): I have circulated an amendment which I will now formally move. I move:
Omit all words following “Assembly”, substitute:
(1) recognises that the Government’s Towards 2020: Renewing Our Schools proposal includes the largest investment in the ACT’s public school system since self-government;
(2) notes that the proposal includes $67 million for the establishment of new schools in West Belconnen and Gungahlin, and $1 million for a feasibility study for a joint secondary college and CIT campus in Gungahlin;
(3) commends the Government on the $90 million capital upgrade package that forms part of the wider Towards 2020 investment;
(4) notes that the Government is backing its $90 million capital investment with an extra $3 million per annum from 2008/09 to keep our schools properly maintained;
(5) supports the use of part of the Government’s record investment on ensuring our school buildings are more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable;
(6) notes that there has been a decline in the ACT school-age population that necessitates change to ACT government schooling;
(7) expresses concern over the increasing Commonwealth funding gap between public and private schools; and
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