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Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [11.23 a.m.]: It is most ironic that we should be debating public education given the Government's record on the northern beaches. However, first I commend the Leader of The Nationals for playing an important leadership role on this important issue. The Government merely talks about numbers and rhetoric, symbolising that it has lost touch. Anyone visiting public schools around the State will see the extent of the neglect. I am proud of the leadership shown by the Leader of The Nationals. Indeed, the bill proposes a new form of leadership for the Coalition, a leadership that listens, understands and puts in place a framework that delivers solutions to the problems the community faces. Such an approach is sadly missing from this Government.
This bill seeks to provide a framework that will enable us to understand the maintenance and capital needs of our pubic schools across the State. At the moment we have nothing more than a Dutch auction. This bill provides a clear model that enables an annual update of the capital needs of the schools. The Leader of The Nationals quoted from the Vinson inquiry, an inquiry that the Government has happily buried. However, the research in that inquiry showed that the quality of physical space affects self-esteem, teacher-student interaction, discipline, attention and motivation. There is a direct link between educational outcomes and the physical. This must be a priority; to knock it back is a nonsense. The current system is not working. Adopting this framework will help.
I turn now to public education. Members opposite purport to be the bastions of public education. Some members might remember Beacon Hill High School on the northern beaches. However, anyone standing on that block today will see that the school is no longer there. The library at that school was named after someone that Government members would well remember. It was called the Whitlam Library because the Whitlam Government provided a grant for a library to be built at that high school. Beacon Hill High School was closed because the Government could put the $8 million from the sale of that site into the slush fund of the Department of Education and Training. During a forum at the last State election the Australian Labor Party candidate for the seat of Wakehurst said, "I do not agree with the policy of demolition." Labor has lost touch with the community. Its arrogance on public education goes beyond words.
Seaforth TAFE was in the electorate of Manly. In 1999 the Government decided to put chains around the site and sell it. To date nothing has been done about the site. Approximately 2,000 students attended Seaforth TAFE and to this day the community would support TAFE and education at Seaforth TAFE and Beacon Hill High School if we had more than the Government's rhetoric, words and plans. However, that is all we get from this Government: no positive action. The Government takes a high moral ground on education yet it knocks down high schools for commercial profit.
In contrast I turn to the new form of leadership from the Opposition, which goes out to the communities, listens and puts in plans to act. I turn now to local schools in my electorate. Since 1994 Manly Vale Public School has been seeking $2 million to replace its demountable administration building, including a sick bay, and to extend its library. The library at that school is at least half the size of an average school library; indeed, it maybe the smallest school library in the State. Seaforth Public School applied to have its toilet block fixed in 1995, and it took 11 years to be approved. The interiors of the classrooms have remained unpainted for 14 years.
For almost a decade Balgowlah North Public School has sought a new administration block and car park, but still those improvements have not been carried out. If the Government took time to understand what is going on in these communities it would prioritise school improvements. Over the past four years Curl Curl has seen a 14 per cent increase in the demographic of 30-year-olds to 39-year-olds. Young families are booming in the area. Over the past 10 years the population of Curl Curl North Public School has doubled, yet its infrastructure remains unchanged. The school has been waiting for new classrooms. I have stood in the school's staff room on a few occasions; it is standing room only at morning tea. It is disgraceful that our teachers are not even provided with a chair to sit down and have morning tea.
I have given just a small snapshot from my electorate to demonstrate the importance of capital improvements and maintenance works being carried out in our schools across the State. The bill provides a framework to help prioritise such improvements and maintenance works. It is the height of hypocrisy for the Government to talk about public education while it bulldozes Beacon Hill High School and locks up a TAFE institution. Last month it was revealed that the New South Wales Department of Education and Training spent $3 million on entertainment and hospitality in 2006-07. The Government says it supports public education, yet it ignores the basic requirements of school maintenance by engaging in political games. It is an absolute outrage that the Iemma Government closes public education institutions, yet it pats itself on the back for supporting public education. It is time the Government took the needs of schools seriously. I commend the Leader of The Nationals for introducing the bill and believe it will assist our schools.
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