ACT Government Budget 2006-2007 - Mixed news for Belconnen

“This year’s ACT Government budget has some good but much more that is not good news for residents and communties in Belconnen,” says Susan McCarthy, President of Belconnen Community Council.

The Government’s refreshed commitment 2006-2007 to the $500,000 for design work on the Belconnen Arts and Cultural Centre is very welcome – the Centre is to be located at the end of Benjamin Way on the edge of Lake Ginninderra.

“The Belconnen Arts and Cultural Centre will be vital to the quality of life of our growing region,” said Ms McCarthy, "The commitment yet to come is to the construction of the Centre due in the 2007-2008 budget.”

The sting in this budget is potentially fatal, suggested Ms McCarthy. The proposed closure of preschools and primary schools in Belconnen is very serious, with 36% of the closures over the three years being in Belconnen.

If these proposed school closures go ahead they will have a drastic effect on Belconnen suburbs. “The community is being told about this decision as part of this year’s budget but in truth it is really a very complex and far reaching decision about the future of the ACT education system and the nature of our suburbs as we know them,” said Susan McCarthy.

“The ACT’s education system is integral to the future skills and knowledge capability of Canberra. While no one in the community can fail to see the need for economic responsibility, dismantling our local education infrastructure increases the real cost of education to individual families and even further damages opportunities for those students and families most at risk.

“Mr Stanhope and Ms Gallagher tested the community’s resolve about the ‘big’ school concept when they decided in 2005 to close Ginninderra District High School in Holt. What they found were parents communities whose primary concern had to be their children’s immediate education and who were limited in their capacity to respond. The Government seems to be applying criteria erratically eg Cook Primary has for many years had capacity enrolments in contrast to other schools that do not. The Government is now forcing these decisions about our schools and our suburbs on our community – this is not vision, it is short sighted and destructive,” said Ms McCarthy.

“This budget completes an appalling assault on the community of Giralang,” said Ms McCarthy. “It is almost as if the Government has joined up with the private owner of the local centre - an aspiring developer of that site - in dismantling the services in this suburb. First the local centre is allowed to run down in a most disgraceful fashion, with the owners fulfilling only the most rudimentary of their obligations as lessees, and now the Government proposes to take away the local schools – it is a disgraceful decision.”

For comment, please contact Susan McCarthy, President, Belconnen Community Council (0419 125 706).