Page 4778 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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response to an erroneous article in the Canberra Times today, there is no such thing as plagiarism in legislation, only precedent. The minister is well aware of this but once again has chosen to misinterpret my intent. If anything, the minister should recognise that we have given due credit to the work undertaken by his department and that we agree to the fundamental premise of empowering our principals. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
I will also note for the record that Mr Barr and Ms Hunter have both been in possession of a draft copy of this bill since Friday last week, and there should be no argument that we have not given the minister time to address with me directly any concerns he may have had. Yet, even as late as yesterday morning, he was quoted as saying that he had not read the bill.
The bill I present today is an important bill and one that we, the opposition, felt should not be ignored and left for introduction at a later date next year. It is important to introduce this bill now and give principals that extra autonomy and the power to make decisions as they see fit. This Assembly has the power to make this decision over the next few weeks and I would ask both the government and our Green colleagues to reconsider their position.
I have criticised this minister previously for his high-handed, my way or the highway approach to his portfolio, and there is no better example than this reprehensible attempt at avoidance of debate. What is even more amazing is that the legislation that the minister has stated that he will try to block is totally based on Minister Barr’s own bill.
When this issue was last before the Assembly, the Canberra Liberals proposed an increase in the powers our principals have to deal with antisocial issues. Mr Barr and the Greens voted against that proposal. Then Mr Barr criticised the Greens and the Liberals for delaying this bill for 12 months and delaying the process of change.
Minister, we are back in three weeks and the ball is in your court to put your credentials out there for all to see. Are you going to oppose for the sake of opposing or are you willing to accept that we have made compromises in good faith and now we and, more importantly, the community are looking to you to join with us in moving forward?
The education minister, Andrew Barr, indicated through the media all day yesterday, even before he had looked at our bill, that he will refuse to even talk about giving school principals stronger suspension powers and intends to use a parliamentary loophole to block this legislation that would give ACT principals the same powers as their New South Wales counterparts and the principals of independent schools in the ACT.
My intention was to bring forward legislation supporting our teachers and principals before the end of this year so that our school principals can start the new year with the new provisions in place. Mr Barr’s threatened action will mean that may not happen. However, the loophole he has indicated that he will use will only last until the end of the year and, if his obstinacy continues and the bill is blocked by him, I will most certainly bring it forward again in the new year.
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