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- 9 March 2006
Hillvue Public School Community Bus
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Page: 21444
Mr PETER DRAPER (Tamworth) [5.51 p.m.]: Tonight I wish to inform the House of a thoughtful community campaign to address problems of schoolchildren's safety and youth crime that has been initiated by residents of the Coledale community in Tamworth. The Coledale Action Team meets monthly to address various resident concerns in the suburb. At a recent meeting resident and parent Debbie Sutherland raised the idea of introducing subsidised bus travel for Coledale Primary School children who attend Hillvue Public School and are forced to walk to school. Because Hillvue Public School is located close to the suburb, the majority of students live within a 1.6 kilometre radius of the school, the minimum distance children in years 3-6 must reside from a school to qualify for free bus travel under the guidelines set out by the Ministry of Transport. As a result many students are forced to walk to school or pay $1.30 each way to travel on the bus. That creates a number of issues for parents and children in Coledale. While students from kindergarten to year 2 qualify for free bus travel regardless of the distance, students in years 3 to 6 do not, and issues arise for the students who live within the radius.
First, the Coledale area is highly populated by Department of Housing tenants and also contains a sizeable indigenous population. Paying for bus travel each school day is not an option for many of these residents. Second, to walk to Hillvue, students must cross a busy railway line used by freight and passenger trains and then cross Duri Road, the main artery between Tamworth and the outlying centres of Werris Creek and Quirindi. That is a huge concern to parents who are unable to walk their children to school as they are placed at greater risk at peak traffic times than students at other schools. Third, there is a growing incidence of truancy. Mrs Sutherland raised the valid concern that a growing number of primary school children are being influenced to truant by older children while walking to school. That, in turn, is adding to an already high incidence of youth crime in the community.
Mrs Sutherland and her family have been living in the Coledale area for approximately 18 years and she is an active and passionate member of the community. She is concerned for the welfare not only of her children but of others as well. Debbie said break-ins have increased during the day in the Coledale area, a claim backed up by local police. She said that just before Christmas last year break and enters were occurring at the rate of about three or four a week, and she witnessed children of primary-school age entering neighbours' yards and wandering the streets during school time. She said it had been a problem in the area for a number of years but the age of the children involved seemed to be getting younger.
Oxley Local Area Command crime manager Inspector Greg Birtles said youth crime was a growing problem in Coledale, describing it as a hotspot for juvenile-related crime. He said any strategy to reduce crime and ensure children attended school would be welcomed and supported by police. Mrs Sutherland raised her concern because of her belief it is vitally important to nip such problems in the bud by teaching these children a school routine: when they get to a certain age a routine becomes much more difficult to enforce. Mrs Sutherland is not alone in her belief. In little more than an hour she gathered a petition with 30 names supporting subsidised bus travel which she presented to my office.
Hillvue Public School principal Ben van Aanholt is also supportive of such a move as he believes the proximity of Coledale to the school, coupled with the Ministry of Transport guidelines, places their students at a disadvantage. Currently there are about 320 students enrolled at Hillvue but in recent years the number has been as high as 700. Mr van Aanholt said that was due to many parents in Coledale opting to send their children to schools other than Hillvue simply because the greater distance qualified them for free bus travel. Mr van Aanholt has made representations to my office asking that the school receive special consideration from the Ministry of Transport to subsidise bus travel for students living within the 1.6 kilometre radius, a concept I fully support.
A similar community school bus program was successfully conducted by Peel High School, which is also located at Coledale. The program enjoyed remarkable success until it ceased in 2004. Mr Ray Usher drove this bus for many years and it targeted students who demonstrated high absentee levels. He said the bus service, which was funded under the Priority Schools Program, sent truancy levels tumbling to 7 per cent, which at the time was one of the lowest in New South Wales. I believe this initiative, which crosses a range of portfolios, deserves the support of the House and the Ministry of Transport as the issues it addresses are significant. I am sure it will be a success.
The community shares my confidence in such a service, and local bus operator Trevor Hannaford has already indicated he is willing to trial the idea in Coledale by donating a bus and a driver for a one-month period to see what the outcome will be. I have spoken to the Minister for Education and Training today and I am delighted to see the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs at the table. This issue crosses his portfolio significantly and I ask him to take this matter to the Minister for Transport. Hopefully, he will support the proposal so that we can give very clear advantages to the young people of the Coledale community.
Mr MILTON ORKOPOULOS (Swansea—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship) [5.56 p.m.]: I thank the honourable member for Tamworth for his considered submission on behalf of the students and communities that he represents. I will certainly make sure the Minister for Transport and any other appropriate Ministers have the information and understand how disadvantaged the students are, and I will reinforce the value of education for their future.
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