SCHOOL AMALGAMATIONS

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): Supplementary: can the minister explain how she says that the review process is authentic when the review process led to a conclusion that the schools shouldn't be amalgamated and yet she still proceeds with the amalgamation?

The SPEAKER: Order! I will count that as a question. Minister.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:33): Because the opposition and other parties have from time to time argued that the government has directed our nominees to vote a particular way—I certainly have done no such thing. There is a difference here—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: This is the function of government. We need to make decisions; at times decisions will be difficult. At times there is one pot of money and we as government in the function of leadership—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: We make the call about how best to invest our resources and we have been investing heavily. For instance—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: For instance, these junior primary/primary sites were established at a time when nobody was talking about early childhood—nobody. Now everything that we do in government, in this portfolio in particular, is all about early childhood. I have approached every review report and every site with a very open mind and I value the enormous contribution and effort put into those review reports. That does not mean that we have to agree all of the time.