The Secrets Behind The Spin
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday March 22, 2007
IT IS a measure of the condition of NSW schools that Labor's election promises include upgrading 200 toilet blocks. Not all at once, mind you, but between now and 2011. In a First World country, good toilets should be something the community can take for granted, like security fences and assembly halls, which are also among Labor's pledges for schools. Not in NSW. So, when the Opposition Leader, Peter Debnam, this week promised to air-condition 1000 schools, the Government was able to query the cost, but not the desperate need for comfortable classrooms. NSW parents might hope that education policy would be about the curriculums and teaching methods to best shape young minds. Instead, Labor's commitments largely concern redressing past neglect of the most basic infrastructure at public schools. Even then, it is hard to assess the adequacy of what is on offer.
To make sense of what the Government - and the Opposition - has pledged for buildings and equipment, the community needs an overall sense of what needs to be done. How much must be spent to bring all schools up to standard? This is information the Government refuses to provide, though it may well be contained in the Education Department's Asset Maintenance Plan. Produced in 1998, the plan estimates the cost of repairs at schools around the state, and ranks them in order of priority. The Herald has sought the plan under Freedom of Information laws but has been rebuffed because the plan is a cabinet document. Thus, a convenient technicality saves the Government acute embarrassment. Such secrecy shows contempt not only for pupils and parents but for those who have to teach in dilapidated, poorly equipped buildings. The teachers are fighting back. Public school principals are doing their own survey and - as the Herald has reported - it is a shocking litany of neglect over the full 12 years of Labor in NSW.Then, there is Railcorp. It has taken the Herald two years to extract from the corporation the details of risks posed by structures built over Sydney rail lines. Censored documents now released under Freedom of Information legislation reveal five sites around Sydney where derailments could cause catastrophic accidents. Railcorp's lame excuse for not having come clean is that the information could be used by anyone "wanting to destroy a structure in Sydney's CBD". So, nothing is said while Railcorp quietly tries to fix the problems.Labor's "more to do" slogan is a plea to take it on trust. Why should voters trust Labor when it is not prepared to trust them with the truth?
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald