Page 1267 - Week 05 - Thursday, 31 May 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
have protocol is that every morning we surrender our children to a system where we know these things happen, and when they happen we want them to know that they are dealt with appropriately.
To me a breach is a breach—flagrant, minor, whatever. The operative word is “breach”. So for Mr Barr to excuse it, as he did in his speech yesterday and again in his letter, by not seeing it as a flagrant breach does not quite cut it as far as I am concerned. If the appropriate processes were followed—and I do not think they were—maybe they are not appropriate, because in this situation two things that are part of that protocol did not occur, or did not occur when they should have occurred. That is to me the crux of it.
The college environment is such that it is very difficult, for instance, to keep students apart, even though they may be in different classes. I do not want to do this in a way that attributes blame. I feel quite sure that the principals and the staff involved acted as they thought appropriate at the time. But the fact is that it was not appropriate. So in the end it comes down to the minister perhaps admitting that there is a problem here, instead of saying that everything was okay. I would certainly feel that my trust in the system was justified. I do trust the system and I prefer to see these things as exceptions in a very challenging atmosphere.
I would have liked to have heard the minister take a different approach to this. I am disappointed that we have to speak openly about what is going on in our public school system. It is the only way that we are going to be able to tackle such issues. This is an issue of currency and there are matters about parents’ trust in the system to know that protocols are appropriate and that they work. That is what we need to have assurance about coming out of this censure motion today. I guess it is a coming of age for you, minister. It—
Mr Hargreaves: How patronising can you get.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Barr: When has age become an issue in this place?
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Barr!
DR FOSKEY: Sorry; it is not about age. It is a coming of whatever we like to call it; it is something that happens to ministers, Mr Barr.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for the Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Housing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (11.14): I think we perhaps ought to flick this censure motion to the Greens over there, with their patronising, condescending comments. How ridiculous is that?
I must actually congratulate Mrs Dunne on one particular thing that she has done. She has put so much snow and bluff around this issue that she is confusing it. She is talking about a so-called breach of protocol, for which she has given no proof at all. Contrast that with the information the minister has put on the table—that his advice was that there was not one. He has convinced the Greens over here—those intellectual
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .