PRIVATE MEMBERS' STATEMENTS
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MOUNT AUSTIN PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES
Mr SCHIPP (Wagga Wagga) [6.16]: I bring to the notice of the House and particularly to the attention of the Minister for Education and Training - I thank him for his presence in the Chamber tonight - a matter deserving serious consideration: the lack of a school hall and other provisions for shade and shelter at one of Wagga Wagga's larger primary schools, namely, Mount Austin Public School. We all know of the dangers of exposure to the sun and of the public campaigns to get people to cover up and to slip, slop, slap et cetera. We should support such responsible campaigns by providing adequate facilities at our schools.
Mount Austin Public School had high priority for provision of a multipurpose hall for each of the last 10 years but on each occasion missed out. In
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desperation the school community has now embarked on a fundraising campaign to build a sunshade area. The area will be used for a variety of functions, from school assemblies to speech nights. The school is one of the few public schools in the Wagga Wagga district that does not have its own hall-multipurpose centre. At present two adjoining classrooms serve as the largest covered or enclosed area. However, this area can accommodate only a small section of the school.
The school's annual presentation night is held outdoors. A recent presentation night had to be cancelled because of wet weather. Provision of government funds for a multipurpose hall has been lacking so the school has been forced to come up with its own solution. The plan is to build a shelter with a Colorbond roof to cover the whole quadrangle. Cost has been estimated at $25,000. The school's parents and citizens association has contributed $2,000 to the cost, while an additional $1,500 has been raised by the student representative council. A school spokesman, Peter Rogers, said that it was hoped to build the construction in stages, with $6,000 required for each stage. A year 6 student, Rachel Price, wrote a letter to the Riverina Leader newspaper. She stated:
We have very few trees in the playground and as you know Wagga Wagga can get very hot in the middle of summer.
We realise the danger of melanoma and skin cancer and I feel we must do something to help prevent it happening.
My class recently found out that on average three Australians die each day as a result of melanoma cancer, and I am concerned about this.
Rachel said that the covered area would be used for sun protection during the summer, school assemblies on rainy days, social events and special events such as Anzac Day ceremonies. Rachel wrote a poem headed "Melanoma", which reads:
Melanoma is a disease,
Of which we have to be careful.
Some people aren't too worried,
While others are quite fearful.
It starts as a mole or a birthmark,
Or sometimes just sunburnt skin.
Three Australian people die each day,
Some tall, some short, some fat, some thin.
So we need to put up a shelter,
To protect ourselves from the sun,
'Cause we've all found out being sunburnt,
Isn't very much fun.
Mount Austin school opened in 1960. Unlike many newer schools, it still does not have a school hall, as I have pointed out.
Mr Gibson: After seven years when you fellows were in.
Mr SCHIPP: I have been campaigning on this for a long time. The school has 415 students and 15 full classes. I believe this is a just and deserving cause. Another poem, which was written by David Wright, reads:
When I first saw it,
I thought of it only as a lump,
Then yesterday when I saw it,
It really made me jump.
When I was younger,
Say 20 years ago,
I used to laze around,
Caring most about my ego.
I didn't bother with sunscreen,
It wasn't very hip,
But then freckles appeared,
On my nose, cheeks and lip.
The cancer's disgusting surface,
All jagged and rough,
I want it removed,
I have suffered the pain enough.
If only I was smarter,
When out in the sun,
Then this wouldn't have happened,
And this painful process begun.
I am pleased that the Minister is in the Chamber. I ask him to support a commitment towards providing the students of the school with shelter from the sun and to reconsider the priority of a hall. I ask the Minister also to give an undertaking that once the shaded area is built the multipurpose hall does not lose priority. The school has a just case for receiving assistance. In today's Daily Telegraph - [Time expired.]
Mr AQUILINA (Riverstone - Minister for Education and Training, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Youth Affairs) [6.21]: I thank the honourable member for Wagga Wagga for giving me prior notice of his intention to raise this matter. I only wish more of his Opposition colleagues would extend the same courtesy; maybe then they would receive positive responses more quickly to the concerns they raise. Mount Austin Public School is one of many schools that were built in the 1960s without a school hall. Many of those schools are not only in rural areas, but also in western Sydney, including a number in my electorate. Year after year those older schools were overlooked in the allocation of funds for capital works because the funds had to be provided for the construction of new schools that were popping up in new development areas surrounding those older schools and were receiving everything that opened and shut, including new halls, beaut library facilities, administration blocks and all the rest.
I am sympathetic to the cause of schools like Mount Austin. In this year's capital works allocation I quarantined some $40 million to allocate money for the construction of multipurpose halls for such schools. I hope to continue that program over the next few years subject to availability of funds. The honourable member for Wagga Wagga said that the shelter area would cost something like $25,000 to construct. I advise that that project will be sympathetically considered. Unfortunately, this year the funds in the program that would assist that construction have been fully expended. The program will continue from 1 July and runs on a fifty-fifty contribution basis. I undertake to the honourable member for Wagga Wagga that $12,000 to $13,000 will be allocated to Mount Austin school
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to at least get the project under way. Of course, the school needs to raise the balance of the funds. However, if something can be worked out in stages to start that process, I will be happy to recommend it.