Page 2808 - Week 09 - Thursday, 27 September 2007
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does not seem to be any indication that the government thinks this is a viable option, simply because of its blinkered approach to education and its blinkered approach, in particular, to non-government education.
We had the example of cultural vandalism by the Stanhope government following the school closures. The most prominent instance of this was the removal by the Stanhope government of the plaque to John Flynn from the Flynn primary school. How insensitive, how silly and how unnecessary was that? What blunder caused that action to be approved? Fortunately, extreme pressure applied by the Canberra community, especially by the people of Flynn, and by people like Mrs Dunne, Mr Stefaniak and Senator Humphries, saw the plaque returned to their suburb.
The closure of government schools began as a sad saga and continues to be a management disaster for the Stanhope government. I am particularly disgusted at the hypocrisy of the Stanhope government having regard to the way in which it has destroyed the surplus equipment from some of these schools. The other issue is its total abandonment—and I am sure Mrs Dunne will have a few words to say about this—of its guide to engaging with the community. The initial press release regarding community consultation on former ACT school sites, which comes from the TAMS site, says, “In the first stage of consultation, district-level forums will be held in Belconnen, Woden, Weston and Tuggeranong.” I am aware that the Tuggeranong forum was held on Monday night, the Belconnen one was on Tuesday and the Woden one will be held tonight, but there now is no Weston forum—a distinct district that is facing particularly savage cuts involving buildings in that area. As is always the case, Weston is being lumped in with Woden. It is a further disappointment for the community.
The guide talks about how adequate time must be taken. It is strongly recommended that the absolute minimum for any community engagement—the community engagement aspect—must be six weeks. Basically, all the community activity is happening this week in three forums, which is only three-quarters of what was promised in the first place. On page 6 of a wonderful document that has Mr Hargreaves’s smiling face on it, it says: “For large projects, policies and strategies seeking comprehensive feedback, 12 weeks is recommended.” Clearly, what is being said is: “We don’t want comprehensive feedback from the public; we’re going to limit it really to just this week.” The advertising of it has been quite limited; indeed, the consultant was appointed no more than a month ago. So we do not have a government that is interested in genuine consultation. (Time expired.)
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for the Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Housing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (4.21): I will quickly correct Mr Smyth regarding his last couple of points. My advice is that the Weston Creek area is included in the Woden area when we are talking about a regional approach to the schools. The feedback that we have received so far would indicate that there is reasonable interest in the future of premises on a regional basis but that there will be a lot more interest expressed during the site-specific consultations. Mr Smyth talks about a 12-week period; we have to take into account that it is from now through to October. As I mentioned before, I did something in May; everybody has known that it has been coming.
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