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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-15 Daily Xml
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Question Time

SCHOOL SPORTS

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): As a proud Rotarian, I would like to address my first question to the Minister for Education. What assessment has been undertaken of all sporting and outdoor activities conducted by the department of education that contain a competitive element since the decision of the full court of the Supreme Court of South Australia in the case of Flavel v The State of South Australia?

In 1997, a 15 year old student in a public school was severely injured in a windsurfing accident. The state government maintained that it was not liable, but in November 2008 the plaintiff was finally successful on the appeal of the decision.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:12): I will take that question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: As the minister responsible for SAICORP, the government's insurance corporation, is the leader questioning the government's tactics in that at all?

Mrs Redmond: Would you like me to repeat the question?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Sorry, I thought you were questioning the decision, which I had to carry over from your government.

Mrs REDMOND: No. I will repeat the question, if I may, sir.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition.

Mrs REDMOND: The question was: what assessment has been taken of all sporting and outdoor activities conducted by the department of education that contain a competitive element since that decision?

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:13): I was a little confused, because the member started talking about her Rotary membership, and I am not quite sure what relationship that had to the question. Clearly, this accident was a tragedy—an unforeseen accident, you might say; the sort of event that could occur in many outdoor activities. It was a tragedy for the individual involved and we would all offer sympathy and, in fact, respect the difficulties of being in that situation, because it would have been very difficult not only for the individual involved but also for their whole family.

Having said that, the judgment, of course, has had some impact on the way in which sports are regarded, but to suggest that competitive activities within schools are unacceptable would fly in the face of everything we as Australians understand about sport. Whilst it may be possible not to have competitive activities in some fitness regimes and some activities, I think that most people would regard it as entirely unacceptable to give up an entire sense of competition within sporting activities. It would destroy our interschool competitions, it would have an impact on sporting activities at junior levels and it would, I think, be entirely unacceptable for all parents as well, particularly as they are concerned about fitness.

Having said that, there are some activities that clearly need to be reassessed, and the department has gone through a process of examining how sport is managed, how physical activity is managed and how extracurricular activities are managed beyond the classroom. This is obviously complex, but I can assure the leader that no-one would contemplate abandoning competitive sports within our schooling system. I think it would be an unacceptable response to that decision.

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