House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time School Amalgamations SCHOOL AMALGAMATIONS Mrs REDMOND House of Assembly Heysen Leader of the Opposition 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 House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! I will count that as a question. Minister. The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly Hartley Minister for Education and Child Development 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 House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly 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 House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Redmond interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, order! The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly 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 House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly 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.