Speech to Parliament - Southside School Sell Offs

Adjournment Speech

Southside School Sell Offs

Australian Parliament House, Canberra

16 May, 2013

I rise today to inform the Parliament of the Liberal National Party’s plans to privatise a number of school playing fields on Brisbane’s Southside.

Unilaterally, the Liberal National Party government has announced that playing fields at Balmoral State High and Whites Hill College will be sold off.

Not a word of consultation with the local P&Cs who in previous decades help build these playing fields from scratch.

Speaking up for Southside Schools

Not a word of consultation with the local community whose local cricket and football clubs use these fields.

Not a word of consultation with the other local primary schools across Brisbane’s Southside who also use these playing fields for their kids because in the inner southern suburbs, there aren’t enough playing fields for the thousands of kids who need it.

And Madame Deputy Speaker
- Not only no consultation but
- No mandate from the people to flog off these playing fields at all
- At no time prior to the last election did the Liberal National Party tell Brisbane Southside residents that they planned to privatise school playing fields

Madame Deputy Speaker, not only is there
- No mandate
- Not only is there no consultation
- There is no logic to this decision

We all know when city school populations go up and down
- Local primary schools had small populations 15 years ago
- Now they are bursting at the seams
- Without adequate playing fields

Once they are flogged off, no future government will ever be able to buy new playing fields in these suburbs because the real estate nearly 8 hectares (7.55) is just too expensive.

Its utter madness on Brisbane’s Southside to be flogging off scarce green space given community demand, and rising local populations occurring through urban consolidation – these fields are part of the lungs of the city.

What about child obesity (and obesity in general) and the capacity for everyone to be engaged in sporting activity – or just walking the dog.

Madame Deputy Speaker, this decision lacks logic on all accounts.

So far more than 2000 people have expressed their opposition to this heartless decision by signing my petition calling on the LNP Government to reverse this short sighted approach.

As Bruce, one of the petitioners said, “I teach in a local Catholic school. On a number of occasions we have had the pleasure of using the Balmoral High School Oval for our sports days. It is a great community asset used by many outside the school. For this reason I believe it needs to be protected.”

So while Brisbane’s Southside community are up in arms about this, what’s been the response from the Liberal-National Party?

One P&C wrote to the LNP Member for Greenslopes, what was his response? Sorry, you’ve got too much land. That’s it.

Well, what about the newly elected Member for Bulimba, you would think he would be more sympathetic.

Don’t bet on it.

Mr Dillaway has told the Balmoral P & C that he fully supports the sale.

Mr Dillaway then tried to convince the P&C that this had nothing to do with the government.

It was an independent decision of the bureaucracy.

Well I’d say this to the LNP:

Local people are not easily fooled.

Anyone with half a brain knows that school playing fields don’t get sold without the tick off from the Minister.

The Courier Mail recently reported that Mr Dillaway is one of many in the LNP Party room who are staunch advocates for asset sales.

In fact the Member for Bulimba believes the LNP hasn’t gone far enough in Queensland.

The LNP are treating Brisbane’s Southside with absolute contempt – they seem to think it’s their land, not the community’s.

Then there’s the Federal LNP candidate Mr Glasson. What’s his position?

The sounds of silence.

Mr Speaker, I love my local community.

I’ve lived here for 25 years.

I love its schools.

The great work they do with our local kids.

And I am angered beyond description by appallingly short-sighted decisions by a LNP (state and federal) deeply wedded to their ideological agenda of privatising everything they can.

Well I have news for the LNP. Together with the local community we will fight these decisions – with one objective; to get them overturned and to keep these playing fields for future generations.