Page 210 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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MRS DUNNE: I would be happy to table a copy of the letter if my staff could print me off a copy.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, I would appreciate it if you and the chair had a conversation, not you and the others.
MRS DUNNE: I would be quite happy to table the correspondence which Gumnut has provided to me and which they have given their approval for me to use today.
If Ms Burch had any real compassion or appreciation for the concerns of Gumnut parents and staff, she would not sit in her plushy office, sending off such insulting letters; rather she would get out there and talk with the Gumnut parents and staff and she would discuss with them the proposals that will certainly bring about the closure of this centre. Instead of summarily throwing families out of a much-loved centre, Ms Burch should be out there assuring those families that the government will support the centre to find long-term alternative accommodation.
Ms Burch: Which is what we are doing, Mrs Dunne. It is what we are doing.
MRS DUNNE: You will get your turn.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order, members! There is an order of speaking.
Ms Burch: Remind her of that when she interrupts.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: I will.
MRS DUNNE: Instead of causing stress and concern to those families, Ms Burch should be standing next to them and working with them to investigate their future accommodation options. Instead of leaving families out in the cold, Ms Burch should be telling them what assistance the government will provide for the physical move of Gumnut and its equipment if they have to move to new accommodation. Instead of wrenching children away from their friends and creating worry for families about when and even if they can find accommodation in other centres, Ms Burch should be helping them with the options.
I seek leave to table the letter that Ms Burch wrote to the Gumnut Place Child Care Centre on 25 November 2009.
Leave granted.
MRS DUNNE: I present the following paper:
Gumnut Place Child Care Centre—Future use of the Evatt Preschool—Copy of letter to Ms Amanda Ronald, Chairperson, Gumnut Place Child Care Centre, from Joy Burch MLA, Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, dated 25 November 2009.
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