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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-06-04 Daily Xml
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ASBESTOS, SCHOOL

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (15:23): On 16 May, I believe, there was a Channel 7 report regarding asbestos in several schools and one of those schools happened to be my school—Henley Primary School. It was a little bit of a concern for me; that is my old school. I contacted the principal the next morning to see what was going on. Interestingly, I had read a newsletter of theirs earlier in the year where they had reported that asbestos had been removed during the school holiday period, and he said, 'This is a nonsense; I don't know where this has come from.'

There were other schools that were reported in this news transcript as well: Craigmore High, Hallett Cove South, Henley Beach Primary School, as I said, Adelaide High and a school in Whyalla. The information had been provided to Channel 7 by the member for Unley. I read his press release and in researching this, the only accurate piece of that press release was the quote of the Minister for Education. Other than that, it was all fabricated information based on his perception of information that he had got that was not based in fact.

In fact, again, the member for Unley FOI'd the wrong information and then based this story on asbestos that was completely wrong. What Shane Misso, the Principal of Henley Primary School, undertook to do when I rang him that morning—in fact, he had already made the decision—was to write to all the parents to ensure that they knew what was correct, that there was no safety issue at that school. It was more work than he had to do but he had to do it because of the concerns that were expressed to him by the parents.

It was completely and utterly outrageous, and what annoys me more than a little bit is that the member for Unley's ill-conceived actions happened during the week of the NAPLAN tests as well. It caused massive disruption to teachers and students, and parents who were understandably worried about their children. I, too, as a parent—although my kids are a lot older now but went to schools in that area—would be worried if unsubstantiated reports, which were fed through to channel 7, were promoting health risks to students at that school.

He did not have (and does not have) the asbestos register. He FOI'd the wrong document from the wrong department, and it just goes to show that his attention to detail leaves a lot to be desired. Notes were sent from the majority of the schools that were named in that media report and, in fact, channel 7 corrected the record and said, 'We based our report on wrong information,' wrong information that was provided by the member for Unley. They actually apologised, and I think it is about time that the member for Unley did the same thing.

How could anyone believe anything the member for Unley says? This is a man who destroyed the leadership of the member for Waite, convincing all around him that the dodgy documents from the Church of Scientology were legitimate. This is a man who continually calls for the removal of government ministers because of what he says in his media release that he believes they have failed, their casual approach to things, the Weatherill government's sloppy reporting, the Weatherill government's amateur hour, and how Premier Weatherill needs to take action. Well, action does need to be taken but the action that needs to be taken is by the Leader of the Opposition. The only thing that proves to be accurate, as I said in the press release, was the quote by the Minister for Education.

Action needs to be taken. It needs to be taken by the Leader of the Opposition. The rest of the press release was fabricated as a result of the member for Unley's lack of attention to detail regarding the facts. As I said, he FOI'd the wrong information. Action needs to be taken. The Leader of the Opposition should immediately—and I stress immediately—call on the member for Unley to apologise for his asbestos school blunder to the schools, the principals, the teachers, the students, the school community. If he does not apologise, he should be removed.

Not to apologise, and for the leader not to ensure that he apologises, only means that the leader condones that type of behaviour and that is the type of behaviour we can expect if they win the election in 2014. I, for one, am going to make sure that does not happen because we deserve better than to have a person like the member for Unley who will do and say anything that is not based in fact and frighten great tracts of our community.

Even yesterday, there was a report on the radio about TAFE, and it was something that talked about a study that has been done on TAFE. I do not know the accuracy of that either. It talked about things that are not being done in TAFE to the proper effect. Anyone listening to that will have trouble believing what it is that the member for Unley says. Now, I do not know whether or not it is true but I would be interested to know whether or not he actually has it right. It is vile behaviour, the Leader of the Opposition has to correct that and he does that by making sure the member for Unley apologises.

Time expired.

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