Fun in the Assembly
Education Amendment Bill 2006-amendments
DR FOSKEY: My question is to the minister for education and concerns the late amendments to the Education Amendment Bill 2006, passed on Tuesday, 12 December, which his office described as technical. Were the minister and his office aware that those amendments specifically impeded any plans of the Tharwa school community to set up the school as a campus of
a private non-government school already established in Canberra? Isn’t it deceptive to withhold such amendments until the last minute and then fail to declare their intent?
MR BARR: I thank Dr Foskey for the question and the opportunity to clear up this issue. I can state absolutely categorically that those amendments had no bearing whatsoever on Tharwa-
Mrs Dunne: That is not the answer to the question. Did you know?
MR BARR: and had absolutely no bearing at all on Tharwa. As I explained at the time, they were simply technical amendments to indicate an area within the Education Act where the act was silent in relation to the registration of additional campuses. All the amendments did was apply the same provisions-
Mrs Dunne: I think that’s a yes, Deb.
Mr Stanhope: About as silent as the Liberals on education policy. Develop any policy last night?
Mr Pratt: Part of your program to exterminate Tharwa.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Barr has the call. Cease interjecting, please.
MR BARR: All the legislation did was apply the same provisions to the registration of an additional campus-
Mrs Dunne: Making it impossible for Tharwa to do what they had already planned to do.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Dunne!
MR BARR: Additional campus that also applied to extending the year level of a non-government school or starting a new non-government school. That was all those amendments did-provide the same provisions.
Mrs Dunne: That is exactly right, but did you know that Tharwa was going to-
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Dunne, I warn you.
MR BARR: The heroic assumption that is being made by Dr Foskey and Mrs Dunne is that in some way the government was going to immediately hand over the facility of Tharwa that we are still using as a government preschool-that we were going to hand that over. That was never going to occur. That property is maintained in government ownership for the use
of the Tharwa preschool. Any conspiracy theory that the property was going to be transferred to a non-government school is just that-a conspiracy theory. It is rubbish.
The amendments to the act simply applied the same provisions to the registration of a new campus for a non-government school as applies to the extension of a year level or the establishment of a new school. There is a process-and it is a process that is supported by the Association of Independent Schools. It is a process whereby there is a registration period. It is an appropriate process and it should be gone through. I think all members would agree that not just anyone should be
able to set up a school in the ACT-that you should meet appropriate standards and that there should be an appropriate process.
Ms Gallagher: And there should be demand.
MR BARR: Indeed. As Ms Gallagher points out, there should be demand.
Ms Gallagher: They are the criteria that you used.
MR BARR: They are the criteria in the act. We apply exactly the same criteria, as I say. For those who choose not to listen, I say for the third time-
Mr Smyth: Go and talk to them. Go and talk to the Tharwa residents.
Ms Gallagher: This was the intention of the original act, which you guys supported.
MR SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Chief Minister will cease interjecting.
Mr Pratt: We would never have supported the eradication of Tharwa.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Pratt! Mr Barr has the call.
MR BARR: I will say it again. I repeat: the same provisions. If Dr Foskey and those opposite seriously believe that existing non-government schools should be able to establish multiple other campuses without any regulation-if that is what they seriously believe-let us hear them say that. Let us hear them say that to all of the non-government schools that would be affected by one or other of their competitors going out and establishing multiple campuses without any form of regulation. That is what the amendment dealt with, and I stand by it.
MR SPEAKER: Do you have a supplementary question, Dr Foskey?
DR FOSKEY: Thank you. Could the minister please provide for the Assembly all instructions and correspondence relating to the drafting of those amendments and the advice that he received from the education department as to why they might be necessary and their impact?
MR BARR: I provided that information in my speech, in the outline of why the government sought to legislate in this area. It was a clear area where the act was silent, and I said that at the time. If there was an error in what occurred, it was that members were not provided with the full detail of those amendments on the Monday. They should have been provided on the Monday; I think the information was provided on the Tuesday. I apologise-and I apologised at the time-for that delay.