|
SHEAP STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO THE LAND (BREAKING NEWS - PLEASE READ THIS BLOG FROM THURSDAY IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR LATEST RELEASE ON SUNDAY ABOUT A SNEAKY ATTEMPT TO TAKE THE LAND FROM HURLSTONE AND GIVE IT TO THE BUREACRATS WHO WANT IT SOLD. NOT ALL IS WHAT IT IS SAID TO BE!) In response to today's article in The Land – which we believe might have been briefed by the Hurlstone Inquiry or the Government, SHEAP’s overriding principle is that Hurlstone Agricultural High School cannot afford to lose any land overall at its Glenfield site. SHEAP said this because selling land at Hurlstone is bad for agriculture education, bad for green space and bad for heritage. Indeed, our studies and Report found that the school needed more land and more investment to provide for best practice sustainable agriculture education. That theme seems to be reinforced in The Land article.
We also objected strongly to the notion that the sale should, in any way, be predicated on the State Government’s desire to walk away from its responsibility to make good its lack of investment and maintenance of school facilities for some time. Indeed, when the school lost land on its southern border for the proposed South West Railway line and was provided the former Glenfield DPI Veterinary Station, it was promised additional money to upgrade the dilapidated and obselete Vet station facilities. That funding never eventuated and the school was lumbered with a long term liability on top of the current underinvestment. As well, the State has clearly failed in its duty of care to maintain the Boarding School in a manner necessary for modern boarding living conditions. Nothing can offset the fact that the State Government should be investing in the school. The State Government and the DET approach over some time and particularly the past year does prompt some understandable caution on our behalf in considering the suggestions in this article. However, any recommendation that seeks to swap 10 hectares for 30 hectares of other contiguous, fully usable land should be assesed on its merits. Such a proposal is consistent with our campaign, our Report recommendations and a private briefing with Mal Peters at which time informal discussions about the adjacent land occurred. We hope that our advice assisted the Chairman in considering that option (noting there appeared to be a predisposition to at least a small land sale). Conditional Support for Principles The final outcome should preserve at least the extent of the current total Hurlstone land holding, it should safeguard the important scenic hills values and it should protect the National Trust listed heritage values. Indeed, the Government must commit to two key conditions to give effect to any such recommendation and secure our support (which we are inclined to provide): · No land be sold until there is a commitment to the additional acquisition (noting that much of the land suggested was formerly Hurlstone land and has been purchased by the State Government for the rail easement in any case. That 30 ha portion not required for the actual railway embankment could be provided for the farm at little net cost to theState Government). Any contra land to be sold is done so with the full participation of the school community to ensure the proposed location and use of that land is consistent with the farm and community needs. · The 180ha Glenfield site (i.e the current total holding that includes 4 schools, State Government offices and the 115ha farm, plus 20 net hectares) is immediately secured on the State Heritage Register along with other reasonable measures to secure the land against future grabs. Taking land now on a future “promise to consider” other land is not acceptable and not supported by the evidence. The State Government would understand that there is little appetite for political promises on the ‘never never”. However, a secure commitment that preserves at least the current net holdings in perpetuity, as part of the package, would be a reasonable foundation for finding agreement. We think getting that sort of agreement is reasonable and inexpensive. We should never forget that the education Minister has admitted there is 400 ha of other unused DET land that could be sold instead, experts and the Agriculture Minister admitted we need to preserve agriculture in the Sydney Basin and the Planning Minister admitted there is already enough residential land in SW Sydney (100,000 blocks for release) to last 25 years. Hurlstone already has a student to land ratio nearly double the other two agrocultural schools and it is best placed as the only fully selective, residential, co-educational agricultural high school that can, by its location cater for both country and urban catchments. Boarders and Agriculture at Hurlstone Our Report acknowledged a number of issues in relation to boarding numbers and the place of Agriculture at the school. Indeed, underinvestment by the State has undermined the attractiveness of the boarding school to potential parents, there is a State imposed cap that reduced total places and the operation of the Selective Schools Admission test has served to block a number of potential country children who had a strong desire to attend and even a potential to compete academically but might not have had the same opportunity to prepare for the test as urban students. We made several practical recommendations to address that issue. We also recommended that Hurlstone require Agriculture or an agriculture related subject be compulsory from year 7-12 instead of 7-10 only. This should apply to all specialist Agricultural High Schools. This is an area that warrants co-operation between the school, target communities and the Government if we are to meet future skills demands in sustainable agriculture. Notably, notwithstanding our broad recommendations to improve the standing of Agriculture, it should be noted that Hurlstone remains the highest contributor to tertiary agriculture courses of the three ag schools and, proportionately, has equal outcomes in numbers of students studying agriculture through to HSC level. This says two things. Firstly, many of these issues apply to all three residential agricultural schools and secondly, that despite being a highly academically selective school in an urban catchment and with much smaller farms than the two country schools , Hurlstone is still doing a remarkable job in generating interest in agriculture. We must all work to promote the important economic and scientific discipline of Agriculture. Hurlstone is in an ideal location to do be a centrepiece for that effort. We should never forget that these schools teach the agriculture curriculum imposed on them with the resources afforded them– so you can’t blame the schools alone for any drop in output. All three residential schools, though, should be teaching cutting edge, scientifically based sustainable agricultural science and practices – in a commercial enterprise context. That is a challenge that should be responded to by the Government, the sector and the target communities. Devil in the Detail SHEAP would cautiously accept the principles outlined in The Land article, if that is the Report findings. But the devil is in the detail and we would want to study that before making a final response. It is fair to say that any package that guaranteed net holdings (at Glenfield), preserved the scenic hills vista and green space and protected the heritage values in perpetuity – while putting in place the additional investment necessary to continue and expand Hurlstone’s important role in teaching agriculture into the future – would be consistent with our 140 page study and report. The Sale proposal was always wrong but a positive outcome appears possible A takeout lesson in this whole process, however, is that the initial sale proposal was clearly wrong and the subsequent public angst appears to have been vindicated. Indeed, 190 expert and community submissions provided overwhelming evidence against the sale. Not one published submission argued for the sale (one argued for re-location). We thank the entire local community, country communities, experts, the Campbelltown Council, a range of politicians across the political spectrum, the media and the students who demonstrated a passion for their school that is rare. We hope their efforts are rewarded positively, as this article suggests they could be. There is no doubt this has been a united community effort from Albury to Kyogle and from Bondi to Bourke and in the Macarthur region specifically. Hopefully the Government is listening. The Inquiry appears to have been a very expensive and protracted process to allow the Government to extract itself from a problem of its own making. Many of these findings were contained in SHEAPs submission, based on research, additional studies, surveys, school and community input. However, if it is achieved, a positive outcome is always better late than never. If the matter can be settled positively, in accordance with these principles we would be the first to acknowledge that. Subject to considering the fine print, SHEAP would welcome discussions around a complete land swap commitment (not part or incremental package) that enhances quality agricultural education, protects the community green buffer and preserves the National Trust listed heritage values. (STOP PRESS: SEE ALSO OUR MORE RECENT BLOG WITH NEWS ABOUT A "TOO CLEVER, TOO TRICKY" BACKDOOR WAY OF TAKING THE LAND) Please provide your comments below...
|
