Vicki Dunne MLA read the following statement out to the Legislative Assembly on 17 November 2009. You can find the transcript at Hansard, page 5129. The Chief Minister’s comments start at Hansard, 11 November, page 4830.

Statement

The Flynn Primary School P&C Association would like to comment on the claims made by the Chief Minister in the Assembly on 11 November 2009.

The Flynn P&C does not accept that it is responsible for the current state of the Flynn Primary School. The government closed the school in December 2006, and until then the alarms worked and the building was fully occupied and it was in good condition with no graffiti or vandalism.

The decision to appeal the school’s closure was made by the broad school community at a meeting on the evening of 13 December 2006. Indicative of broad community support, and well after the school was closed, the community raised the $50,000 demanded by the government to allow the matter to proceed.

The appeal was discontinued in February 2009 when the government solicitor threatened Flynn P&C with further demands for costs if the P&C did not consent to the case being dismissed. This ‘offer’ was reluctantly accepted on legal advice. In the end, it was the government demands for money that caused the P&C to reluctantly end the action.

Many members of the Flynn community have worked tirelessly over the past three years towards re-opening the school, so it is quite insulting to the Flynn community and its spokesperson to say that the P&C Supreme Court appeal was politically motivated. If the school were still open, none of this would have happened.

The Flynn community has sought to discuss solutions with the Chief Minister and Education Minister numerous times over the past three years—directly and through solicitors—but with no success so far.

We are very grateful that the Chief Minister has now committed to retaining the Flynn Primary School grounds and building and protecting their heritage value. But Flynn still needs a local school—we are asking for the level of investment equivalent to that in other communities.

We ask for support from the Assembly to restore the Flynn community and return its only school.