ADELAIDE HIGH SCHOOL

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Why has the government broken its election promise to expand Adelaide High School by 2013 without encroaching on the Parklands, given that the project has now been delayed until beyond 2014 and over 2,300 square metres of Parklands will be lost?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:48): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I thank the honourable member for her question. It is a curious question coming from the member for Adelaide, given that she participated in the governing council that endorsed the option of encroaching upon the Parklands. I would have thought that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —if she had had some difficulty with the proposition—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I would have thought that if she had had some difficulty with the encroachment on the Parklands, she might have been able to make herself—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Unley, you are warned!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We were only sitting across the table from one another. It would have been a simple matter to simply say, 'I think this is a difficulty,' but she in fact participated in the decision, and that is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: And frankly, Madam Speaker, that is why we did consult very broadly, because we did say that at the election. We explained that we were unable to achieve the results that we wanted to achieve because of the options that were—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, Leader of the Opposition, you are warned!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is important to actually understand the sequence of events here, because it was in fact the very governing council upon which the member for Adelaide sat that developed a number of options, the preferred ones of which were acceptable. Both of the preferred options that were chosen by the governing council encroached upon the Parklands.

Mr Pisoni: All five of them encroached!

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Unley, you are warned for the second time. I cannot hear the Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: In seeking to give expression to the wishes of the governing council of Adelaide High School, we had to choose an option which encroached upon the Parklands. We freely acknowledge that. We said very openly that there was a small encroachment on the Parklands. It was not ideal. It was not something we wanted to do, but nevertheless we put that forward.

I must say, having discussed it with the Adelaide City Council and the Parklands Authority, which we did do when we sought to propose this design, there seemed to be very little concern about it. There are some interests and demands by Adelaide City Council and the Parklands Authority about other ambitions they have for the western Parklands, but they really were not particularly exercised by the fact that there was a small encroachment on the Parklands.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mitchell.