School Transport Policy

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:08): I seek leave to make a further ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: On 26 June 2014, the former minister for education and child development announced that school bus services in regional areas would be reviewed. This resulted in a review of the school transport policy undertaken by the Department for Education and Child Development. The review explored where we can improve our existing bus services, by considering what is working, and examined the possibility of reconfiguring existing resources to deliver a more efficient and equitable transport service to as many children and students in rural areas as possible within existing resources.

An extensive consultation process was undertaken with key stakeholder groups and representatives, all of whom have provided valuable contributions to the review. The department's review team has since considered results from the survey, which captured over 600 participants, and has taken into account the various stakeholder views from the structured consultation process. The team has also made a series of interstate comparisons with South Australia's school transport policy and, importantly, examined the current policy's parameters. I am satisfied with the thoroughness of this review and the due consideration that has been given to ensure that any opportunities for improvement have been identified.

The review indicates that our existing system is working well and that the current school transport policy continues to meet our aim of providing a fair and efficient free school transport service. The department has examined the potential to make improvements to services within the scope of existing resources. It determined that the changes to the current system can only be achieved with significant additional funding or the introduction of a charge for services. Any extension of existing school bus routes is cost prohibitive, so the current arrangement will remain with eligible non-government students continuing to receive free transport or transport assistance to their nearest government school.

Non-government school students will continue to be dropped off at their school where a DECD provided bus goes directly past incurring no additional travel. The policy on travel assistance provided to a limited number of special interest schools requires further review in consultation with the affected schools and students. I acknowledge the report has been delayed as a result of my desire to examine if DECD is the appropriate organisation to manage these services.

Opportunities may exist for an integration of services to benefit rural communities and achieve efficiencies for government and local government by combining resources and assets. Accordingly, my department will work together with the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure to determine what mechanisms could be used to facilitate the regional community use of buses including the DECD fleet. Key to this proposal will be active involvement of local government. The school transport policy review is available on the department's website.