Page 4710 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 19 October 2011
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MR DOSZPOT: I am sorry, but I am very angry, Mr Barr, as you—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): Order! Mr Doszpot has the floor.
MR DOSZPOT: Ms Porter spoke about political motives. This motion has got to be one of the most outrageous political stunts we have seen in ages. This motion is truly a curate’s egg: it is good in parts, but the bad parts are very bad indeed. I am of course referring to part (2) of the motion, in respect of which I flag that I will be moving an amendment.
I am truly disappointed in you, Mrs Porter—that you have been so naive, so ignorant of the true nature of education debate and management in the territory, that you could so brazenly stand here in this chamber today and move to speak to this motion. As far as dorothy dixers go, this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for the misinformation that it represents. It is as shameful as it is plain wrong.
Mrs Porter, how could you be so used, abused and coerced by this machiavellian spin merchant posing as the minister for education? How could you, Mrs Porter, of all people, allow yourself to be used so cheaply to promote and mask this minister’s litany of failures, falsehoods and phoney accusations? Mr Barr is losing his grip on education, so he feels compelled to resort to these cheap and stupid mistruths and stunts.
To suggest that the ACT Liberals have walked away from specialist needs education is absurd and plain wrong. It is not even original. It was at exactly this time last year that Mr Barr made similar allegations. Let me remind the Assembly. This time last year, Mr Barr had yet another crisis within his portfolio as a result of poor consultation and a lack of listening skills. He called it a commitment to restoring a balanced budget. We called it callous, uncaring cuts to the community’s most vulnerable.
And what is more, so do people involved in education in this territory. Just ask the parents and teachers of deaf children in the ACT. Just ask the parents and teachers of children with visual impairment in the ACT. Just ask teacher librarians in this territory who just want a fair go and a job. Just ask teachers who were told “tough luck” when they took an administrative issue to this minister for resolution. Just ask parents, who have had to endure two teacher strikes this year because this minister is incapable of negotiating a decent pay rate for teachers.
Just ask the Education Union what they think of him. They have been trying to negotiate with this minister for months; he flips and backflips all over the place but is incapable of negotiation, incapable of conflict resolution, incapable of sensible dialogue. Just ask the parents of preschoolers in Weston Creek, who had to petition the Assembly before this minister would even start to consider their issues. Just ask the parents of children at Woden school who had to endure countless bullying incidents and medical emergencies before this minister was forced to act. How dare this minister—or you, Mrs Porter, for that matter—
Ms Porter: “Ms Porter”, thank you.
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