Parliamentary Debates (HANSARD) THIRTY-EIGHTH PARLIAMENT FIRST SESSION 2012 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Wednesday, 7 November 2012 Legislative Assembly Wednesday, 7 November 2012 THE SPEAKER (Mr G.A. Woodhams) took the chair at 12 noon, and read prayers. BELMONT WATERSKI AREA Petition MS L.L. BAKER (Maylands) [12.01 pm]: I have a petition that reads as follows — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, condemn the Barnett Government for proposing to retain and extend the Belmont Ski Area on the grounds that it threatens the safety of river users, creates confusion amongst river users now that a 5 knot speed limits applies at the Windan Bridge, reduces the Maylands Yacht Club’s racing area by 200 metres and disturbs the special bird breeding area at Berringa Reserve. Now we ask the Legislative Assembly to ensure that the Barnett Government honours its promise to implement a new plan and management framework for the Riverpark in time for the 2012–13 boating season and, as part of this, closes the Belmont Ski Area. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that you will give this matter earnest consideration and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. The petition bears 115 signatures and I certify that it conforms to the standing orders of the Legislative Assembly. [See petition 669.] METROPOLITAN RAIL NETWORK — THORNLIE LINE EXTENSION Petition MR C.J. TALLENTIRE (Gosnells) [12.02 pm]: My first petition concerns an extension to the Thornlie train line and reads as follows — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say • Traffic congestion on our local roads is becoming intolerable; • Good public transport and particularly safe, reliable and inexpensive train services will make the most difference; • The Barnett Government’s Public Transport Plan does not consider extending the Thornlie Line until after the year 2031, which is far too late; Now we ask that the Legislative Assembly call upon the Barnett Government to embrace the extension of the Thornlie Line and fund urgent planning work without delay. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that you will give this matter earnest consideration and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. The petition has been signed by 22 petitioners and it has been certified as conforming to the standing orders of the house. [See petition 670.] CONTAINER DEPOSIT SCHEME Petition MR C.J. TALLENTIRE (Gosnells) [12.03 pm]: I have a further petition concerning the introduction of a container deposit scheme; it reads — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say it is time to address the number of beverage containers recycled in Western Australia and assist in improving the ongoing litter problem we have in our state. [ASSEMBLY — Wednesday, 7 November 2012] 8055 Discussion about the introduction of such a scheme for Western Australia has been ongoing for too long and it is now time the Government took action. Now we ask that the Legislative Assembly call upon the Barnett Government to immediately introduce a Western Australian Container Deposit Scheme, similar to the system that operates in South Australia. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that you will give this matter earnest consideration and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. The petition has been certified as conforming to the standing orders of the house and it has been signed by 35 constituents. [See petition 671.] COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES Petition MR C.J. TALLENTIRE (Gosnells) [12.04 pm]: I have one further petition concerning the rising fees and charges people face; it reads — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say 1 The State Government’s recent increases in fees and charges to householders are disproportionate and unfair. 2 Many people are struggling to get by and these increased charges are causing unnecessary hardship. Now we ask the Legislative Assembly 3 To voice the case of householders aggrieved by these increases in fees and charges. 4 To give relief for WA householders trying to balance the household budget. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that you will give this matter earnest consideration and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. The petition has been certified as conforming to the standing orders of the house and it contains 28 signatures. [See petition 672.] PAPERS TABLED Papers were tabled and ordered to lie upon the table of the house. STATE AGREEMENTS LEGISLATION REPEAL BILL 2012 Notice of Motion to Introduce Notice of motion given by Dr K.D. Hames (Leader of the House) on behalf of the Mr C.J. Barnett (Minister for State Development). BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE — PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS, GRIEVANCES, ALL STAGES OF BILLS, AND COUNCIL MESSAGES Standing Orders Suspension — Motion The SPEAKER: Now to business of the Assembly, notices of motion. Leader of the House, I think you have a motion regarding the suspension of standing orders. DR K.D. HAMES (Dawesville — Leader of the House) [12.07 pm]: Yes, I do, Mr Speaker, thank you. I was looking around for the aforementioned brief ministerial “statementer”, if such a word existed, which it does not! I move — That so much of standing orders be suspended as is necessary — (a) to give private members’ business priority on Wednesday, 7 November 2012, between 4:30 pm and 6.00 pm; and for the remainder of this session unless otherwise ordered — (b) to suspend grievances; (c) to enable bills to be introduced without notice and to proceed through all stages on any day; and 8056 [ASSEMBLY — Wednesday, 7 November 2012] (d) to enable messages from the Legislative Council to be taken into consideration on the day they are received. This is a standard process. Usually at this stage of sittings, variations are made to what normally happens with private members’ business. We have reached agreement for this week that one and a half hours will be allocated. We will have further discussions about next week and move an alternative motion then, but the remainder of the motion, which is for both sessions, is a standard procedural motion that is always moved in the lead-up to the end of the yearly sitting and, in fact, particularly, to the end of a government sitting. The SPEAKER: Members, given that the suspension of standing orders has been provided to us, it does not need an absolute majority to succeed. Therefore, I put the question that the motion moved by the Leader of the House be agreed to. Question put and passed. SCHOOL EDUCATION AMENDMENT BILL 2012 Second Reading Resumed from 17 October. MR P. PAPALIA (Warnbro) [12.09 pm]: I am the lead speaker for the opposition on the School Education Amendment Bill 2012, and at the outset I indicate to the minister representing the Minister for Education that the opposition will support the bill, and that we endorse the objective of including in the compulsory years of education an additional year of preprimary schooling, so that in effect this state will have 13 years of compulsory education. I also indicate to the minister that there will be a number of speakers on this bill, because obviously education is vitally important, and a number of members on this side wish to contribute to this debate. I understand that the member for Alfred Cove may wish to contribute as well. I also indicate to the minister that I would like to go into consideration in detail on this bill, not because we are in any way objecting to the bill, but in order to elicit some information, and I will be giving the minister an indication of the sort of information that I am hoping to garner from the advisers that the minister will have with him in the chamber. I will say at the outset that there is a line in the second reading speech that indicates where I intend to go in this debate. That is the statement that the intention to extend compulsory education by an additional year was announced by the Premier on 8 December last year. What was also announced on 8 December last year was the shift of year 7 students into high school. The point I want to make is that there was very little consultation about that announcement. There was also no transparency with regard to the planning for that move. Subsequently, there has been very little advice to the house or to the public of Western Australia on how well prepared, or otherwise, the Department of Education is for accepting year 7s into high school in 2015. Therefore, I am interested to find out how much additional planning been put in place to prepare for this move to an additional year of compulsory education—which will come in advance of the move of year 7s to high school, because it will occur next year—and how much resourcing has been allocated to it. We know that for the move of year 7s to high school, the resourcing is completely inadequate. We know that the funding for high schools to accept year 7s has been given to only 29, or about one-third, of the high schools around the state. We know that there is a great deal of consternation in the community about the move to constrain the schools that did not receive funding by requiring them to take in only students in their local catchment area.