Save Tharwa School

by Rosslyn Beeby for the Canberra Times, Saturday, 29 July 2006

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and his Government will face a rebellion from within party ranks at today’s ALP conference over cuts to public education and the Gungahlin Drive Extension blow-out, according to documents leaked to The Canberra Times.
A group of conference delegates say they plan to ask leave to table resolutions that oppose the closure of 39 public schools across Canberra, and express a lack of confidence in the Government’s consultation process over the closures.

They say they will defy any moves by conference officials to gag debate, and are prepared to stage a protest walkout if necessary.

The conference, at Rydges Lakeside Hotel, will also face a protest from parents and activists. Groups from many of the public schools targeted in last month’s budget said yesterday that they expected hundreds of supporters to gather outside the hotel to vent their anger.

Romlie Mokak, a man whose children were likely to attend Dickson College in future if had not been listed for closure, said he felt betrayed by the party’s nine MLAs.

“We voted for a government that said it would protect, not plunder, our public education system,” the Downer resident said.

A letter sent to ALP members last week by a prominent conference delegate also states the Government’s tough 2006-07 budget betrays core Labor values and “has failed us on the environment” and has urged “like-minded members” to voice their concerns.

An ALP source said many ACT branch members were also angry that they had been asked to submit all motions to be debated at the ALP conference in the week before the Stanhope Government handed down its tough 2006-07 budget, containing cuts to schools, health, superannuation and environmental services.

“They pulled a swiftie on us,” the source said.

Draft copies of two resolutions under consideration by rebel delegates were among internal ALP documents leaked yesterday to The Canberra Times.

“The ACT branch of the Australian Labor Party opposes the need to close 39 public schools as targeted by the ACT cabinet,” the first draft motion says.

“It violates the trust that ALP members and voters have placed in the ACT Labor Government to protect and enhance the public education system. ACT Labor calls on the ACT Labor Government to maintain support for the public education system, including the stand-alone Year11-12 college system by keeping Dickson College open, plus all existing learning support units.”

The second motion says the ACT branch of the ALP “is deeply concerned with the consultation process for ACT public school closures” and has lost confidence in the process.

“It violates the spirit of the Party Platform, is a public relations disaster, and is alienating the ACT Labor Government from its electorate, party members and supporters.

“The ACT Branch of the Australian Labor Party therefore calls upon the ACT Labor Government to start a new consultation process that is wide, genuine, and makes available to the community all information relating to public schools.

“The ACT ALP also calls upon the ALP Parliamentary wing to subscribe to the intent within the ACT ALP Platform for early, and genuine, consultations with the community to avoid unnecessary closures and stress on local communities, parents and their children.”

Environmental activist and former ALP candidate for Molonglo Mike Hettinger has been approached by rebel delegates to move the motions at today’s conference.

“I think it’s fair to say there’s a lot of disquiet among party members and delegates since the recent budget was brought down,” Mr Hettinger, a former United States space program scientist, told The Canberra Times.

“People are particularly distressed by the school closures, and that is why this conference cannot be business as usual for the Stanhope Government.”

Last week Mr Hettinger sent a letter to ALP members saying he was shocked by the budget cuts, and the priorities they reflected.

“The priority for a Labor Government should always be social justice,” he said. “It is therefore mystifying that this Government has placed as a priority spending over $116million dollars on a 9km freeway [the GDE]; that is $116million that will not go to schools, hospitals, public housing and public transport,” he wrote.

An ALP source said ACT members were also angered by a letter from Mr Stanhope, sent out several weeks after the Government announced its budget cutbacks.

In the letter, Mr Stanhope told party members the tough budget measures “would not be pain free” but would “liberate the ACT from the structures and processes we inherited from the Commonwealth.”

“To those of you who ask why such difficult and painful decisions needed to be taken now, I ask in return, ‘Why not?”‘ Mr Stanhope wrote.

The ACT Liberals will use next month’s Legislative Assembly sittings to call for a formal inquiry into the future of Canberra’s public education system.

Opposition Leader Bill Stefaniak announced yesterday that he would demand that the Government scrap its planned school closures and instead allow an independent panel of experts to decide what changes were needed.

The Labor conference is expected to debate a number of contentious issues as well as public education.

The party’s branches and policy committees have listed more than 70 resolutions for debate, including a criticism of the Government’s decision to cut superannuation contributions to new ACT public servants from 15.4 per cent to 9 per cent.

Labor’s Black Mountain sub-branch has moved a motion attacking private school funding, and the health policy committee has called for a moratorium on genetically modified organisms to be lifted when the current ban expires.

The party’s support for security of tenure in public housing, which allows tenants on high incomes to stay in government-owned properties in return for paying market rental rates, is also listed for debate.

Labor’s ACT branch has traditionally been dominated by the left faction, which controls less than half of the 210 delegates’ voting at this year’s conference.

Party secretary Matthew Cossey and president Eva Cawthorne, both left members, are likely to be re-elected unopposed today.

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