Page 3938 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 5 December 2007
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If we go on, the next day, when she realised that by putting out that comment it had left open the possibility that they may be closing schools soon, what did she do? She sent out her spokesman—a spokesman for education minister Katy Gallagher—who categorically ruled out Labor closing any schools during the next term of government. She accidentally left it open that it might happen some time soon; so the next day she sent out the spokesman to clarify the government’s position. The government’s position was that they would not close any schools during the next term of government.
Mr Barr: What was the date of that article, Zed?
MR SESELJA: I said the date. It was 12 August.
Mr Barr: What she said two weeks later, on the 26th—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Barr, cease interjecting.
MR SESELSA: Mr Barr obviously does not understand.
MR SPEAKER: Never mind the interjections. Direct your comments through the chair.
MR SESELJA: I will. Two weeks later she did not recant this comment; she simply left open the possibility of it happening at some time in the future. But in the context of this article, not only do they categorically rule it out in the next term, it says:
With the school-age population in Canberra decreasing in coming decades, closures would need to be looked at, but this would not be during Ms Gallagher’s time in politics.
The government put it out there that yes, some time in the future they may have to look at school closures, but they categorically ruled them out in this term and ruled them out during Ms Gallagher’s time in politics. They were talking in terms of decades, not in terms of 18 months or 2½ years. They were talking in terms of decades.
That was the message that they wanted the people of the ACT to hear prior to the last election. It was that they were not going to close any schools and, if school closures happened, they would not happen until well after Ms Gallagher was no longer here. We assumed it would be several years into the future before they would actually be considering it. That was the message that they took to the ACT election in 2004 and that is the message by which they stand condemned when we see schools being closed en masse as a result of this government’s decision.
It is interesting to actually go to after the election and look at what was said. Mr Barr has talked about the figures, and we saw those figures discussed as the precursor to that Canberra Times discussion. But then we saw, in the Canberra Times of 18 May:
No schools in the ACT were slated for closure because of low student numbers, the office of ACT Education Minister Katy Gallagher said yesterday.
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