ACT Greens Parliamentary Convenor Meredith Hunter has submitted a Bill to the Legislative Assembly which will amend the Education Act 2004 to ensure that any decision to close, amalgamate, or consider closing a government school are made in a rigorous, thoughtful and transparent manner.

“This Bill will address issues in the act, to make sure that the sham consultation of 2006 can not be repeated,” Ms Hunter said today.

“There will be clear timeframes outlined which will allow better consultation and assessment of the facts, which will lead to better process and decisions being made.

“To begin with, this Bill will go to the Education Committee to incorporate community advice on how to best consult with school communities.

“One of the greatest frustrations of the 2006 process was Government, with their minds already made up, heading out to listen to concerns, only to ignore them.

“To address this, the Bill states that the Minister must explain to the school community how the school community’s views have been taken into account in making the final decision.

“Communities form around schools, and we need to think long-term about how to maintain the education services that communities want and develop better processes for when demographics change,” Ms Hunter said.

ACT Greens lead candidate for Ginninderra Meredith Hunter has argued that the way to make housing more affordable in Canberra is through improved planning and design.

“Housing sustainability and affordability are closely linked’ Ms Hunter said today, “particularly for people living on limited incomes.”

“Homes that are cheaper to buy or rent, but which are not water and energy efficient, and are not well served by rapid transit and local facilities are not in reality affordable.”

“After the October election, the ACT Greens will focus on making sure housing development served by strong public transport links and local retail and community facilities.”

“All new housing should have clothes lines, solar hot water units, good insulation, and access to the sun. That can all be done affordably, so while the building costs are no more, the living costs are much less.”

“The high cost of housing is in part the result of federal policies (such as taxation, home owner subsidies and rental rebates), but there are things that can be done locally.”

“After much pushing by the Greens and key NGOs, last year the ACT Government finally put an affordable housing Action Plan in place. Other Greens initiatives to add to that plan include:

• A means tested stamp duty concession to help first home buyers who need support;
• land tax concessions on homes rented at affordable rates to low income families; and
• increased investment in community and public housing right across Canberra, funded in part through superannuation.

“The bottom line however is the cost of living. Mortgages and interest rates are a part of that equation; energy, water and travel costs are the other” Ms Hunter said.