Regional Schools, Asset Disposal

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:08): I move:

That this house urges the state government to review the process of putting the disposal of closed regional schools to public tender with a view to making this process faster and more efficient.

Regional South Australian schools are some of the smallest in the state, with some having less than 20 students in total. Currently, a number of small schools in regional South Australia have closed, but it is taking up to two years and longer for those buildings and grounds to be put to public tender. The lengthy process could be made much simpler, faster and more efficient.

An example of how the process is hampering future development in the regions, and particularly small regional towns, is at Lyrup. One of the small towns in my electorate, Lyrup, had a school closure back in 2012. It was a beautiful little school, with great gardens, trees and a 100-year-old building and outhouses. It had a playground that was supported by money raised at community fetes. It was a significant $45,000 playground.

The school was a picture. It was close to the river and it had history, and all of a sudden it was decided by the governing council and the parents that it would close. Sadly, it was an unsustainable school for the six students who attended, but it was a small school that had huge history and significance. It was the fabric of a small river village and is part of Lyrup's history.

Along the way, a phone call was made, and one of the outraged community people said that there were builders in the school grounds cutting down the school playground and that another builder was cutting the legs off the sheds and taking them away. I went down there, and to my surprise I found that one of the government departments had given a contract to a maintenance person to remove the playground and the sheds, and they had the salvage rights as well.

The department had given salvage rights to a contractor to take away the playground and sheds—a $45,000 community playground. By the time we chased it up and followed it, it was too late: it was gone. Some weeks later, I got another phone call to say that there were maintenance people at the school who were stripping it. They were not just taking the air conditioners or any of the furniture: they were pulling out the carpet, they were pulling out anything they could get their hands on to take away.

That school was, again, a great asset to the Lyrup community. It was part of the Lyrup community. It had significance and it also posed an opportunity for a business to come in to set up an accommodation facility, particularly for horticulture harvesters and workers, something that region sadly lacked. I consulted with ministers, and it was not just the education minister I had to deal with. I had to deal with the Minister for Infrastructure, and then I had to deal with Renewal SA. This was all over a process of having offered back to a community a school which had been there for over 100 years. But, no, the government was not happy with that. They had to strip the school bare and make it almost worthless and unviable.

What they did do was leave the asbestos. They left that there, but they took anything that was worth taking and left the asbestos. They left the community with a shell of a school and a toilet block that had asbestos in the roof. Why could we not have considered it as a community asset and sold it off then and there while there was still interest in it and while it was a viable property? It had great grounds, with magnificent trees and gardens and a little oval. It was in pristine condition. A lot of the work that was done around that school was done by the community. It was not a paid education person or a public servant who came in to do all the work: the community got in there and did the work. That is just one of the many examples, and sadly I have had a number of schools close in the electorate.

Browns Well Area School was in a similar situation. Browns Well was a great school out in the Mallee where the same thing happened. It was a great school, and the idea was that it would be used for seasonal accommodation, particularly out in the Mallee when the grain harvest season came on. People were always looking for accommodation. The school was right next to the footy oval.

Some of the seasonal workers would have a kick of footy at the local club, and some of them would be a part of that community, even if it was for a short part of the time. But, again, the government in its wisdom took all the pieces away from the school and eventually it was bulldozed. It was a magnificent old stone building pushed over and let go.

One of the other concerns has been the Loveday Primary School. The Loveday school closed last year; its declining student numbers were a concern to the parents and the governing council, so they decided that they would close it. But, again, the students were lucky enough to have schools in a reasonably close vicinity, and they could be picked up by bus and taken to Cobdogla.

The wisdom of both the previous federal government and this state government was that with the Building the Education Revolution program they were told that they had to spend the money or they just would not get it, so they put a big outdoor COLA there and, of course, the school closed less than two years later, so we have a stranded asset: a $340,000 outdoor COLA that was sitting at a school that was closed.

In the government's wisdom it was either, 'Put it there or you will lose it,' so through negotiation, and I commend the government, they did see fit to allow that COLA to be relocated at the Cobdogla Primary School, where the students were relocated. It did come at a cost, of course, for erecting it and moving the artificial turf, but that was just part of what could have been.

The Loveday school has history, the internment camp, and I know the member for Light has great interest in the area with his family history. The Loveday school and the internment camp would make a great community museum. We also have the water museum through SA Water down that way. Why can the government not see some community benefit from a school that is going to close? If they have to hand it over, if they have to put a peppercorn lease on it, do it and keep it as a community asset so that it can still be a part of those small irrigation early settler communities and be of value. Today, these schools will be let go, they will be run down, they will become a ghost town, and in a moment they will be pushed over into a heap and lost forever.

I will move on to the Renmark High School. The old Renmark High was built in 1929 and it closed in the 1980s. Again, it is an asset of the education department, I think, or it might be infrastructure today or Renewal SA that has the guardianship of it. We cannot get the boundaries sorted out there. We have a woodworkers' group and a quilting group who use part of the school. This woodworkers' group is a community organisation building wood products for a charity, building wood products to make a few dollars to pay the rates.

They are looking at extending that facility and putting up a shed, but all of a sudden restrictions and government regulations say that they cannot put a shed up and expand their woodworking facility because it does not meet the regulations. The Renmark High School has been sitting there unused for some 30 years. The woodworkers' group, to their credit, have gone in there and voluntarily put that school back together. There is another part to the school that is still sitting there in rack and ruin, but we have had private enterprise come along and say that they would be prepared to look at it and turn it into a backpackers.

Renmark High is a different scenario, as it closed quite some time ago, but with the Browns Well school, the Lyrup school and the Loveday school, if the government in its wisdom were able to quickly put them into a public tender while they were still warm, it would give an opportunity, whether it is a business opportunity, a backpacker accommodation opportunity or something that would keep them as a productive asset in a small community.

The reason I have brought this motion to the house today is that these are small schools in small communities, but they are communities that are held together with fabric, and the fabric is the school. These communities need every bit of help they can get. They need the support of the government to say, 'The school has closed; let's get it out to public tender,' yet we have this longwinded, bureaucratic process that takes forever and the schools all of a sudden become bird-ridden, vandalised and unloved. The community lose interest and walk away, and the next minute we get in the bulldozer. I ask the government to look at how they can speed up the tender process and keep those assets part of a regional community.

The Riverland Special School recently closed, at the end of last year. They were very lucky. That school was replaced with a brand new school, and the minister was up there to open it. What I can say is that the original special school for children with special needs was on the side of a hill. It was very much in an inappropriate position for handicapped students and students with special needs and high needs.

The special school moved, but now the old school is sitting there vacant. As I understand it, there are bits disappearing away from the school. Again, that will be a community asset that will be whittled away and all of a sudden have no value, no significance and will be of no real benefit to the community. So, again, the bulldozers will inevitably come in and push that school over, whereas if that tender process was sped up it could be a valuable asset to the community. The process really has been quite alarming.

Community members have put so much hard work into all these schools. I am sure many members here, if they have children, have gone and volunteered their time at school working bees, fetes, raffling, taking their kids to sport—all types of things. They have all been a part of the school and all of a sudden, sadly, if these small schools do close, it leaves a hole in the community. Being able to speed up that tender process gives that school an opportunity to remain a part of a small community.

In my case, in Chaffey, it is a small river community, and most of these schools were underpinned by returned servicemen. They were soldier settlement properties that were set up, and in yesteryear the schools were full. They had hundreds of students attending, but over time, sadly, with areas becoming less viable and people moving away for different reasons, numbers in these schools have declined and they are becoming unviable. If they are an asset to a regional economy, speed up that tender process and keep them a part of a regional community.

Regional communities have a unique gelling, that is, normally it comes around a sporting oval, a sporting precinct or a school, and that is something that remains part of that town or small community's history. Keeping that school alive in one way, shape, form or another is crucial to keeping a vital piece of infrastructure alive and well, and providing an opportunity for another day. Whether it be a backpackers, a wildlife retreat school, a caravan park, a community hub or provides a centre for a service group, it needs to be provided to those small communities.

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (12:24): I rise to amend the motion as follows:

Leave out all words after 'That this house' and replace with:

notes the state government's current review of the process of disposal of all surplus state government real property, including closed regional schools, seeking to make the process faster and more efficient for all properties across the state.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: I just seek clarification. I understand that motions can be amended, and I have been the victim of government amendments before. I understand that, if you have the numbers, you can pretty well amend anything you like so long as it does not go directly contrary to—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is there a point of order?

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: No, there is a question. I said I was seeking clarification.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Alright, what is the question?

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: I understand that you can amend a motion, so long as it is not directly contradictory to the motion, but I want to know, please, Deputy Speaker, is it actually an amendment to the motion when you are—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will have to see it, but it sounds like it is alright to me.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Sorry, Deputy Speaker, I have not quite finished. Is it an amendment when you actually remove the entire motion?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are you being frivolous?

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: No.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It sounds like it.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: The amendment seeks to remove everything after 'that this house'. That is not an amendment: that is a replacement.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It depends on the context of the rest of the amendment.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: That is what I am seeking clarification on. There is not one word—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It sounded okay to me.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: There is not one word left of the original—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: We are waiting for the printed form.

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It sounded alright to me, so continue with your speech.

Ms HILDYARD: Thank you. The disposal of surplus state government real property, including closed regional schools, is managed in accordance with the policy contained in Premier and Cabinet Circular 114 (PC 114). Our government has, indeed, recognised the need for this policy to be updated.

Whilst I am not a regional member, I do understand from experiences both in my electorate and electorates close by the need for land which becomes available due to the closure of schools or other institutions to be expeditiously released. I certainly hear and appreciate a number of the comments made by the member for Chaffey in that regard.

Renewal SA and the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure are currently reviewing the processes contained in PC 114 with a view to refocusing the strategic assessment of surplus land and reducing the time allowed for the processes that precede the release of the property to the market. The government is looking to make these changes to ensure that, when there is divestment in government real property assets, the best strategic and financial results are achieved in a timely manner.

To the specific matter of regional schools, I am advised that many have been developed on crown land. In such instances, extensive and complex research is often required to ensure that appropriate actions are undertaken in accordance with the Crown Land Management Act 2009 to convert the tenure on any land to fee simple, which enables the sale and transfer of the land in accordance with the Real Property Act 1886. In order to facilitate the best whole-of-government outcome from properties that become surplus to requirements, the PC 114 process includes the following steps:

strategic assessment against a range of criteria, including the state's strategic objectives and planning policy, to determine whether the property should be retained to contribute to government objectives, or whether the property should be prepared for disposal, which is undertaken by the owning agency and the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure;

the owning minister is required to declare the property to be surplus to requirements;

following these steps, Renewal SA offers government agencies and the relevant local government authority an opportunity to express interest in purchasing the property; and

if these is no interest, Renewal SA then undertakes market preparation, including due diligence, and ultimately the release of land to the market under a public sale process.

I am advised that, over recent years, there has been very little demand for properties that have been declared surplus to requirements in rural and regional areas. The government will ensure that it communicates with all members about the changes to be made to the Premier and Cabinet Circular 114: Government Real Property Management, in the near future. Again, the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure and Renewal SA are reviewing the current processes with a view to refocusing the strategic assessment of surplus land and reducing the time allowed to move through the processes that precede the release of the property to the market.

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (12:29): As I begin, I pick up on some of the comments made by the member for Reynell. One part of the process that I am interested in, because it has some significant relevance for Schubert currently, is the part after which the surplus assets are put out for sale by the market, and there is limited interest shown by the market. What happens then? I think that is the part of the process that the member for Chaffey has been talking about as well, with regard to significant assets in small communities which are eyesores and are sitting there idle to the detriment of the amenity of those small communities. They sit there idle because of this government process.

I would like to talk about two parcels of land in my electorate that I have been campaigning pretty hard for and which I understand are currently under review by the Minister for Education. The first of those is the Mannum primary school. The Mannum primary school has been on the market, so it has gone through this process that the member for Reynell talked about. It has been up for sale to the public for seven years. There are three parcels of land that have been lying idle.

The council has in the recent past purchased the school itself at a cost of about $270,000, I believe, and has done significant work to turn it into a community hub. That community hub is fantastic for the people of Mannum. It offers a men’s shed as a place for men to come together and IT services for older Mannum residents to be able to update their skills when it comes to iPads and so forth. It is a meeting place and it is a community hall. I was lucky enough to go to the opening of the community centre with the member for Frome—who, I believe, did sell out the people of Mannum as a regional community today, but we will move on.

It is a fantastic local community asset and it was only with the foresight of the Mid Murray Council that that was able to go ahead, but the land that sits around that reclaimed primary school sits idle and has sat idle for seven years. There are three titles that exist, with one of the three titles having had some market interest. The department, as I understand it, is exploring whether or not we could separate the three titles, so that the one that does have interest in it can be sold as a separate title and, on the same basis, the two remaining titles can be gifted back to the Mid Murray Council and the people of Mannum.

The second surplus government asset that I would like to talk about is the Moculta primary school. At this point, I would like to point out the hard work of a Moculta resident by the name of Fiona Koch who has been on the case for a long time. She did lobby the Barossa Council to buy the Moculta primary school when it came up for sale but, because of other assets within the area, the council decided not to buy it. This is a primary school that closed down three years ago. It has, over that time, become a derelict eyesore in the middle of what is otherwise a proud, small rural community just north of the Barossa.

In a town of approximately 100 to 150 people with about 70 to 100 homes, this building stands in the middle of this community as a blight and a testament to how this government has failed to look after regional communities in South Australia. It was a proud school in a proud town that now sits there as a derelict building with smashed windows, with bits and pieces ripped off it and with surrounding grass areas overgrown. It is, quite frankly, an occupational health and safety risk. It is a real blight on what is otherwise a proud community.

It speaks, I think, very much to the member for Chaffey’s comments about what it is that we can do with these surplus assets, and that the government needs to undertake these processes a lot more quickly. For three years, the community has had to drive past this blight every single day. I understand there is some reticence about gifting things back to the community because once you start somewhere, where does it end? Indeed, I have had people talk to me about surplus government assets in Mount Pleasant that could be gifted to the community.

I understand there is reluctance around that and I think that is quite valid. I do think that the government’s balance sheet looks bad enough as it is, and giving away assets, even though those assets are not that saleable, would make the balance sheet look a lot worse. However, these two cases, apart from all other cases that I have been able to explore throughout the electorate, come with the highest levels of merit.

What the people of Moculta want to do with this asset is turn it into a post office, a community café, an art gallery, a place for its historical society to meet. They want to take this derelict building and turn it into the focus of its community. In this small little town of Moculta, which really does not get too much focus from anyone, it would be a great thing for the state government to be able to give this back to the community.

The truth is that in both of these cases it will not cost the state government a cent, apart from preparing the sale agreement and managing that side of it, because these assets are technically worthless. As the member for Reynell talked about, there has been little market demand for many of these regional assets. This is a zero cost measure. This state government could turn around and show some compassion for and understanding of small regional communities and say, ‘This is cost neutral, this is entirely practical, it is common sense, it has an element of compassion about it.’ I have heard members opposite speak about compassion quite often in this place and here is something practical that they could do in that regard.

I would say that for the communities of Mannum and Moculta, this motion is extremely worthy. I believe that the aforementioned amended motion may be more worthy than the current one but, having said that, we will use the structures that we have. This is an entirely worthy motion, an entirely worthy sentiment, and it is something that I believe the government should pick up on and remedy at its earliest possible convenience.