Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak briefly tonight on the long-awaited announcement late last week by the Tasmanian Premier, David Bartlett, concerning the future of the provision of education and training in the Bridgewater and Southern Midlands communities, in Hobart’s outer suburbs. This is an issue my colleague the member for Franklin, Ms Julie Collins, and I have brought to the attention of the parliament on a number of occasions. From the start, since the Bridgewater High School’s destruction by fire, Julie and I have been supporters of the re-establishment of the high school on its original site. Ms Collins brought to the House’s attention on Monday her support for the Premier’s announcement when she said:

It was with pleasure that I welcomed Premier David Bartlett’s announcement last Friday accepting the Bridgewater and Southern Midlands Education Renewal Taskforce’s recommendation to build a new facility on the original Bridgewater High site, one that will include grades 9 to 12 as well as an adult learning provision.

The Premier’s announcement that a new, state-of-the-art education facility would be built on the original Bridgewater High School site, with the state government setting aside up to $40 million for this project, was welcomed by the Bridgewater community. The Premier announced that the government would accept nine of the 11 final recommendations of the Bridgewater and Southern Midlands Educational Renewal Taskforce set up to investigate options for the future of education in the area, following the area’s main high school being devastated by fire last October—and I thank the task force members for their work and diligence.

The most significant of the task force’s recommendations is for the building of a new facility on the original Bridgewater High School site which will include grades 9 to 12 and an adult learning provision. The Bridgewater model, from birth to adult learning, will proceed over the next five years, but the Brighton component will be further developed in consultation with the community. The way education is delivered in the area will be revitalised based on extensive community consultation. Under the model announced by Premier David Bartlett last week, education provision in the area will take the form of a middle-school model, with the establishment of separate centres for birth to grade 4, grades 5 to 8 and grades 9 to 12, to better cater to the specific needs of the community. The Bridgewater and Southern Midlands community will have access to lifelong education and training opportunities within the community.

Indeed, this announcement fits in with the Premier’s stated goal of improving education provision in the state to ensure that it fits the needs of differing communities. By announcing a new direction for education and training in the Bridgewater and Southern Midlands areas which retains the core education and training facility in the heart of the Bridgewater community, this is exactly what he has done. He has listened to and taken note of not only what is in the best interests of the future of the area but also what is in the best interests of the community.

What makes the long-awaited decision so significant is not the fact that, in accepting the recommendations of the task force, the Premier has embarked on the first pilot project of the middle-school model of education in the state; what makes it so significant is what it means for the community, who have struggled with uncertainty following the loss of the high school to fire last October. Let me put this into perspective. The suburb of Bridgewater, where the previous high school was located before it was destroyed, is one of the most socially marginalised and externally stigmatised areas in Tasmania. However, as is the case with most areas that suffer their fair share of knocks, Bridgewater has maintained a strong sense of community.

Indeed, for many of the 370 students who attended the high school and their families, the school was much more than a place of learning; it provided a social hub in which a great deal of community pride was invested. The loss of the school last October obviously took a huge toll on the local community, who were devastated to wake up one morning to discover the high school, situated in the heart of the community, had been destroyed. Gone was not only the high school but also the primary place for social networking and support for many students and members of the wider community. The tragic loss of the school took a heavy toll on staff, students, parents and the community. Students were initially forced to temporarily relocate to either of the two schools around 10 to 20 kilometres away. The high school students are now temporarily located in one of the primary schools in the area, with students from the primary school co-located with another primary school. The staff from each of the schools in the area should be congratulated on the professionalism they have shown in ensuring students still have access to the resources they need to continue their learning.

The community should also be congratulated on the way in which it has handled all that has occurred after the fire: everything has been done with minimal fuss and bother, with the best interests of the children always at heart. Indeed, one of the strongest qualities to arise from this tragic event has been the way in which the community rose to the challenge. The impact of the fire was felt by not only the students and their families but by the whole community. In fact, in the days immediately following the fire, a number of concerned residents banded together and formed a community lobby group to ensure that the high school was rebuilt on the original site and not taken out of the reach of the growing number of young people who live there—and so the Keep Bridgewater High on its Original Site steering committee was formed. It is fair to say, I believe, that its intent received bipartisan support from both state and federal politicians.

The committee originally lobbied the Premier to have the school rebuilt on the original site. However, once the task force chaired by Tony Foster, Mayor of Brighton, was announced, to examine not only the viability of rebuilding the high school but also the entire future of education provision in the area, the committee quickly set about engaging the community and raising awareness of the future of education in the Bridgewater-Gagebrook and wider area. Participating in the public consultation process undertaken by the task force, the committee became the voice and face, if you like, of the Bridgewater community. It kept its finger on the pulse at each and every stage of the consultative process, reminding those outside the community of the urgent need for a decision and the strong need for a facility to be rebuilt on the original site. The passion and commitment to the cause shown by the members of the committee, including spokeswomen Ronda Cockshutt, Linda McKenzie, Angela Knight and Vicki Graham, is commendable and was untiring.

In March this year, after doorknocking literally every residence in the Bridgewater, Gagebrook and Brighton communities, the steering committee presented the state Minister for Education, David Bartlett, with a petition containing over 3,500 signatures. That’s 3,500 signatures out of a community of 5,000. Mr Bartlett welcomed the input from the local community and said that he would consider the interests of the community when making his final decision on where the new education facilities for the area would be built.

Indeed, the Premier stayed true to his word. When announcing his decision, last week, to implement nine of the 11 recommendations of the task force, and to rebuild the primary facility on the original high school site, the Premier acknowledged the hard work which Ms Cockshutt and the committee had put in to have the community’s interests heard.

The decision, which will see a state-of-the-art education and training facility in the state being built in one of the most socially marginalised communities, was the right decision not only for the community but for the future of education in our state. The decision reflects a coming together of minds—not only about what is good for the future of education in our state, but also about what is good in terms of the specific needs of specific communities.

In closing, I think it is fitting to describe to you the scene at last week’s announcement by the Premier. Walking into the temporary high school, I was first greeted by a group of excited young girls who obviously had been working hard catering for the morning tea held to hear the Premier’s announcement, and I congratulate them on providing very tasty fare. Committee spokeswoman Ronda Cockshutt was nervously awaiting the Premier’s arrival. Following the announcement by the Premier, and in a true sign of what the decision meant for the community, Ronda, overcome with emotion, presented the Premier with a plaque of appreciation thanking him for showing faith in the community and for a decision which is the fulfilment of a community. This is a good news story. And I have to say that its value lies in pleasantly being reminded of the impact our decisions in government can have in communities such as Bridgewater.

It has been a long journey up until this point. However, I look forward to being there, as no doubt the steering committee led by Ronda will be, when the first sod is turned, but more importantly when the first students walk through the doors of the new facility located in the heart of Bridgewater, where it belongs.