8475 KIf&iaiur TPounrit Wednesday, 1 December 1993 THE PRESIDENT (Hon Clive Griffiths) took the Chair at 2.30 pm, and read prayers. BILLS (3) - ASSENT Message from the Governor received and read notifying assent to the following emls - 1. Industrial Relations Amendment Bill 2. Taxation Legislation Amendment Bill 3I Acts Amendment (Annual Valuations and Land Tax) Bill MOTION - URGENCY Leedervile Primary School, Closure THE PRESIDENT (Hon Clive Griffiths): I have received the following letter - The President, the Legislative Council, WA Dear Mr President I write to give notice that at today's sitting it is my intention to move under standing order No 72 that the house at its rising adjourn until 9.00 am on December 25th 1993, for the purpose of discussing: (a) The announcement by the Minister for Education that the Leederville Primary School will be closed. (b) The circumstances of that closure in the light of a joint Ministry of Education and P & C working party report which provided a compelling case for the school to remain open. (c) The Minister's action in closing the school despite strong representation from the school community that it wishes the school to remain open. (d) The future of other schools which may be facing closure, and the amount of consultation which can be expected by school and general communities prior to the announcement being made by the Minister. Your sincerely Bob Thomas Member for the South West Region Before we can proceed to discuss this proposal, an indication should be given by at least four members rising in their places that they support the proposal [At least four members rose in their places.] HON BOB THOMAS (South West) [2.38 pm]: Mr President - Hon N.F. Moore: It was good of you to give us notice, which you used to complain about when in Government. Hon BOB THOMAS: The Minister has correctly indicated that I did not give notice to the Government and I apologise for that. Hon George Cash: It is an ambush tactic. Several members inteijected. The PRESIDENT: Order! We have been in this place for seven minutes, half of which rime I took up asking somebody on high to guide us in all our undertakings and ensure 8476 [COUNCIL) we acted with decorum int this place. Less than two minutes later, a slanging match has started. If honourable members think that, after sitting so late last night, I will tolerate interjections all afternoon, this Chamber will be pretty bare by tonight because there will not be many members left in it. Hon Bob Thomas quite properly has the floor and I ask him to address me. Hon BOB THOMAS: I move - That the House at its rising adjourn until 9.00 am on 25 December 1993. I sometimes wonder whether one should be honest and offer an apology. Through an oversight I neglected to provide the Government with a copy of the motion I intended to move today. I had it with me, and I now pass a copy to the Minister through the attendant. The Leederville Primary School is being punished because it voted Labor at the last State election. Hon N.F. Moore: I do not think it did, if the truth be known. Hon BOB THOMAS: It is also being punished because it has former-Premier Carmen Lawrence as its local MLA. It is also being singled out, quite cynically, by the Minister because he wants to use the closure of this school to ingratiate himself with his own constituency by establishing the distance education centre there. Hon E.J. Charlton: That is a terrible thing to say. Hon Derrick Tomlinson: Tell us about Middle Swan while you are at it. Hon BOB THOMAS: As a result of that this school has been singled out for this attention. One can easily confirm this by looking at the way the school is being treated by the Minister in the way he announced this decision. Yesterday, 30 November. the Minister put out a press release arbitrarily indicating that the school would close at the end of this school year and that the site would then become part of an educational precinct involving the Leederville TAPE, the TAPE External Studies College and the Leederville centre for distance education. Not too much consultation occurred before that announcement was made, but there was some window dressing given to the way the Minister went about this process. He cynically set up the Leederville Primary School working party early in October and gave it a very tight time frame to consider a number of issues and to report back to the Ministry. Hon N.F. Moore: I did not set that up at all. Hon BOB THO0MAS: In doing so. the Minister placed an enormous burden on that working party to analyse accurately all of the data and issues and report back to the Ministry by the end of October. During October the Minister referred on a number of occasions to the fact that he was considering using that site for the distance education centre. I refer to the Mansard on 21 October when Hon Graham Edwards asked the Minister a question about Leederville Primary School and the Minister stated - The reason that Leederville Primary School is being singled out, in a sense, for attention at this time is the requirement for us to utilise that building for distance education in the event of the school's closing. On 21 October the Minister already had it firmly in his mind that an appropriate use of that site was for the distance education centre. Hon N.F. Moore: That is why it was considered in the firt place. Hon BOB THOMAS: This is even though the working party had been set up and given an improper amount of time to consider all of the issues associated with the closure of that school. I took great offence at some comments made by the Minister in his answer to that question asked on 21 October, because he referred to the hearings of the Estimates Committee which were conducted at four o'clock on the previous day at which he was the Minister responsible for the Division being considered. Representatives of the Leederville Primary School had come up to Parliament House to meet with the Minister. He had asked his Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Fred Tubby, to meet with them because he was unable to meet them himself. He apparently was busy with something at one of the [Wednesday, 1 December 1993] 878477 colleges in town and was unable to be here and could not arrive back until just in time for the Estimates Committee. The school representatives, having seen Mr Tubby, then came into the Legislative Council and filled the Public Gallery and observed some of those proceedings. Hon Norman Moore was visibly disturbed about this. He was quite anxious about their presence. Hon N.F. Moore: That is rubbish. I was a bit anxious for the poor old Hansard reporter trying to hear what was being said. Hon BOB THOMAS: The Minister then indicated his intolerance of the school representatives coming here and making that quite passive protest in this Chamber and making sure he was aware of their presence. The next day in question time the Minister referred twice to the school having been present and used the spurious argument that he was trying only to ensure that the Hansard reporter was able to hear the proceedings. I was chairing that particular proceeding of the Estimates Committee. Hon N.F. Moore: You can talk to the Hansard reporter. Hon BOB THOMAS: I was aware there was some noise coming from the gallery. Hon N.F. Moore: You were as weak as water. Hon Mark Nevill: You are reflecting on the Chair. Hon BOB THOMAS: Mr President, I do not intend to ask the Minister to withdraw that comment because it is typical of the behaviour we get from him. I was in the Chair and I was aware of the noise coming from the gallery, but it was not sufficiently loud to prevent the Hansard reporter from hearing the answers being given by the Minister and the representatives from that agency which was under discussion. Hon E.J. Charlton: Tell us about Leederville. Hon BOB THOMAS: I decided that it was far better for us to put up with the small amount of noise we were hearing from gallery rather than ask them to leave, because I could see there would be a huge media event if this school had been kicked out of the Chamber. I did the Minister a favour. Hon N.F. Moore: Why would you think about kicking them out? You said they did not cause any trouble. The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, stop your interjecting. I am trying to find out which of these four sections of his letter Hon Bob Thomas is currently speaking to. Hon BOB THOMAS: I am speaking to the first section, Mr President; that is, the announcement by the Minister for Education that the Leederville Primary School would be closed. We need to discuss that. I am saying that the Minister did not give enough* time to the Leederville Primary School waiting party to consider the issues. He gave it one month. That was not enough time for its members to set themselves up and consider all of the data and issues. The PRESIDENT: Order! I do not mind the member saying that, but I cannot see the relevance of somebody making a noise in dhe public gallery. Hon BOB THOMAS: I was pointing out to the Minister, after one of his rude interjections, that during his reply to the question asked on 21 October the Minister referred - quite inappropriately - to the actions of the students while they were present in this Chamber.