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- 4 September 2001
Cartwright Public School
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Speakers - Lynch Mr Paul
Business - Private Members Statements
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Page: 16336
Mr LYNCH (Liverpool) [6.02 p.m.]: I draw to the attention of the House and the Minister for Education and Training a request that has been made by Cartwright Public School, which is in my electorate. On 26 July this year I received a letter from Lisa Lambert, the Secretary of the Cartwright Public School Parents and Citizens Association. Part of that letter reads:
I'm writing to you on behalf of the Cartwright Public School P and C Association in regards to our school fence. Our school was promised a fence in the month of February 2001, as last year we were broken into nearly every second night, but because since the month of March this year we have been incident free (that is material things have not been stolen) the education securities department has now put our school further down on the list.
The letter continues:
Our school shows pride in our school grounds. Many an afternoon and weekends the students, teachers and parents have spent digging gardens, planting trees and moving tons of mulch to have these ruined when we come back the next day. Our school has also had numerous windows broken, outside seats stolen, and graffiti written all over the school. Cartwright school also shares its school grounds with the Macarthur Community College and the Cartwright dentist. The people using the college use our grounds for parking and their cars are put at risk.
Ms Lambert also points to a number of incidents in which unauthorised personnel intruded onto school property. That situation is potentially dangerous. In one particular incident referred to by Ms Lambert the behaviour of the intruders was sufficiently serious that the 250 students of the school had to be locked in their classrooms because of concerns about their safety. Ms Lambert not unreasonably points out that while this sort of incident did not involve theft, it is nonetheless a very concerning instance and would certainly justify the installation of appropriate fencing.
The concern of the school is that the assessment of whether fencing is necessary is based purely upon the incidence of theft, and that that would seem to be an inadequate basis upon which to make a determination. The school community is suffering from a sense of frustration at the damage done to the school and is very keen to have a solution in the form of a fence. In a letter from Mr Brian Reynolds to the Department of Education and Training, a copy of which he sent to me, this sense of frustration is well captured. The letter reads in part:
Due to the continued break-ins at Cartwright Public School which has also more recently been combined with petty and incomprehensible vandalism at our school, I feel compelled, out of a sense of duty as a parent of children attending this wonderful and happy school and also as a parent representative on the school council to write to your department to seek some urgent and tangible solutions to school security at Cartwright Public School.
I often speak casually with many parents at Cartwright Public School and they have expressed a growing concern at the increase in break-ins and subsequent interruption to their child's learning when valuable equipment and aids are stolen or damaged beyond repair. They suggest they may seek an alternative and safer school to send their children which would be to the detriment of Cartwright Public School which boasts a proud record of learning. I myself attended Cartwright Public School in the early to mid-1960's and quite frankly this school deserves much better support.
I have had the opportunity to view copies of some of the incident reports dealing with events at the school. In my view these provide a solid basis for concern that security measures at the school should be upgraded. They certainly reveal a significant increase in the volume of incidents last year. A number of other schools in this area have either had fences installed or have recently received funding for them. This is relevant to Cartwright in two ways. Firstly, if it is good enough for other schools in the area, it should also be appropriate for Cartwright. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, if other schools are more difficult to enter, there must be a real chance that people wanting to illegally enter school premises will redirect their efforts to schools, such as Cartwright Public School, that do not have fences. In that sense, an unfenced school becomes the victim of those who are deterred from fenced schools.
One other factor is relevant. Literally metres from the school is a vacant block of land at the intersection of Hoxton Park Road and Cartwright Avenue. That land is the subject of a development application for a hotel. I have previously expressed my opposition to that development, including in a speech in this place. The application was opposed by Liverpool council officers and was unanimously rejected by Liverpool City Council. Notwithstanding this, an appeal has been lodged to the courts. If that appeal results in the approval of the hotel development—despite my fervent wish that it not be approved—it adds a powerful and additional reason to the arguments in favour of a fence being built at the school. Even if the hotel development is not approved, approval of some other use on that vacant block is likely to lead to an increase in the number of people frequenting the area. That, of itself, is another reason to support the construction of a fence. I ask the Minister for Education and Training to review this issue with a view to having a fence installed at the school.
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