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- 15 November 2001
Vaucluse Electorate School Mergers
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Page: 18750
Mr DEBNAM (Vaucluse) [4.35 p.m.]: Again I wish to talk about the merger of schools in my electorate. About an hour ago the Minister for Education and Training gave the House some figures that he claimed were increases in enrolments in various schools. I would like to show the House that the Minister for Education and Training has outrageously misled Parliament and should immediately return to the Chamber, apologise to the people of New South Wales and correct the record. The Minister for Education and Training said that year 7 enrolments at Vaucluse High School will go from 52 this year to 128 next year. Under some pressure during question time the Minister acknowledged that year 7 enrolments at Dover Heights High School had gone down by 60. Therefore, the figures for Vaucluse and Dover Heights, according to the Minister, had gone from 112 enrolments this year to 128 next year—not what he first tried to say, which was from 52 to 128.
My understanding is that year 7 enrolments this year at Vaucluse are of the order of 75 to 80. Let us say there are 75. Dover Heights year 7 enrolments this year are 70. Therefore Vaucluse and Dover Heights enrolments in year 7 this year are 145. The Minister has said that the enrolments next year will be 128. Therefore the enrolments for Vaucluse and Dover Heights high schools in year 7 have gone down by 17, despite the fact that about an hour ago the Minister was crowing in this Chamber about increased enrolments in the eastern suburbs of Sydney as a result of the merger of the two schools. This is clearly Cecil Hills High School all over again. This is the Premier and the Premier's staff manipulating facts and, worse, manipulating the Minister for Education and Training.
On the figures available to me this afternoon, the Minister for Education and Training has simply lied to this House about enrolment figures at the two schools. I do not know what figures he has for enrolments for next year, but I will use his figures—128. If that is the case, enrolments have gone down, not up. The Minister has frequently lied to the people of New South Wales, and under the rules of this House he has clearly misled Parliament this afternoon. I suggest to the Minister that he leaves his office, comes down to the Chamber, and apologises for what he is doing to the people of New South Wales and the students of the schools in my area. He should also apologise to the parents of the students in my area and explain where he got those figures from and why he was doing the Premier's dirty work this afternoon with another stunt to try to suggest that enrolments had gone up because of the Minister's attack on schools this year. We all know that the numbers are not going up. I have just read the figures, and they did not go up from this year to next year.
The Minister has returned to the Chamber, so hopefully we will find out where he got the figures from. For the Minister's benefit I will repeat them. The Minister said that enrolments for Vaucluse would go from 52 to 128. This year, year 7 enrolments at Vaucluse are in the vicinity of 75 to 80—let us say 75. He said that Dover Heights enrolments had gone down by 60 because he was combining the two figures. Let us accept that. His new figure is 128 next year. Dover Heights is 70, not 60.
Mr Aquilina: It is 76.
Mr DEBNAM: The figure is 76. Whichever way one looks at it, the Minister has misled the people of New South Wales and this House. He should resign today. He should have resigned six months ago. He is destroying one school after another. The Minister has attacked parents and teachers. Because the Government is gutless, the Minister is refusing to overrule the Teachers Federation on teacher selection. A school in my electorate is demanding that teachers be chosen on merit, but the Minister is refusing to do so. Once again the Minister is misleading the Parliament and lying to the people of New South Wales. What does the Minister have to say for himself?
Mr AQUILINA (Riverstone—Minister for Education and Training) [4.40 p.m.]: What does the honourable member for Vaucluse have against his local schools? The honourable member has two high schools in his electorate: Dover Heights High School and Vaucluse High School. For the record, the year 7 enrolments at Dover Heights for this year were 60. The honourable member claimed 70, but the figure was 60. In relation to Vaucluse, the variation is 52. This year's enrolments is 76. That is 136 all up.
Mr Debnam: You said there were 52.
Mr AQUILINA: The variation is 52 at Vaucluse.
Mr Debnam: You said there were 52.
Mr AQUILINA: The variation for Vaucluse is 52, from 76. That makes a total of 128. That is 128 in one school, as opposed to 136 in two schools. That is what we are talking about.
Mr Debnam: So it has gone down, has it? You are the teacher—has it gone up or down?
Mr AQUILINA: The honourable member should not be a nitwit.
Mr ACTING-SPEAKER (Mr Mills): Order! The honourable member for Vaucluse will cease interjecting or he will be removed from the Chamber. I place him on three calls to order.
Mr AQUILINA: With 60 students at Dover Heights High School and 76 students at Vaucluse High School, we are talking about a total of 136. At this stage—we are still a fair way out from the start of the new school year—we are talking about an amalgamated school on one site with 128 applicants. I guarantee that the number of applications will go up, providing the local member stops rubbishing his local schools. That is exactly what is going on at the moment.
Mr Debnam: The Minister should resign.
Mr AQUILINA: The honourable member should not be an idiot. This is about bringing kids back to public education and, at this stage, an increase of more than 300 year 7 students. He should stop rubbishing his local schools! [Time expired.]
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