Save Hurlstone’s Educational Agricultural Property (SHEAP)
Media Release A ‘Trojan horse’ recommendation that the historic Hurlstone farm be taken from the School and handed to the very DET bureaucrats who want to sell it is a “showstopper”, blocking a potentially positive agreement to bring the issue to a close, Campaigners said today. Tiffany Spiers said the recommendation to separate the farm under the control of DET bureaucrats is contradicted by the Report’s findings on the DET’s inability to manage agricultural schools and contradicted Government guarantees that Hurlstone would remain a day/ boarding, selective agricultural school.
“We haven’t seen the whole report, but this recommendation is a Trojan horse being snuck though under the guise of ‘giving more land’ but in effect the school loses the whole farm which will be controlled by the very bureaucracy criticised in the Peter’s report as being negligent on agriculture education,” Ms Spiers said. “It is a recipe for failure and looks like a desperate last minute grab by the DET who have been proven absolutely wrong in this whole sale proposal and who are on the record wanting to sell this land.” Ms Spiers said a leaked chapter of the Report rebuffed Government and Departmental claims that up to 140 hectares of Hurlstone’s farm was unused or surplus, and recommends the need for increased land and an urgent injection of $14 million in funds to upgrade outdated facilities. The Inquiry suggests a land swap with a 30 ha leasehold from the SW rail corridor (adjacent to the Hurlstone Farm) in return for a proposed sale of 10.6 hectares for $15 million of which 100% will go to farm and boarding school improvements. It also recommends that the remaining land be Heritage listed. The Save Hurlstone campaign said these findings proved the DET and Government was wrong from the outset and vindicated community demands that the farm be saved. However, a leaked chapter of the Report contains two key issues of concern for the community and the future of the farm. · The Report concedes that the Terms of Reference forced the Inquiry to sell some farm land and green space as the only option available to generate much needed funds (p122). · The report suggests structurally separating the farm and placing it under the direct control of the very education bureaucracy that has been responsible for the under-investment at Hurlstone and that has tried 3 times in 30 years to sell off the farm in defiance of the community. “The Save Hurlstone campaign has been vindicated. We provided evidence of the need for more land, more investment and a vision for the future,” SHEAP President Tiffany Spiers said today “However, it is disappointing that the Chairman has recommended sacrifice of community green space to find funds - only because the Terms of Reference forced it. The Government should be ashamed.” SHEAP said the Report provided clear evidence that the Department of Education and Training had been deficient “regarding the operation and management of the agricultural high schools” (p116) The Inquiry Report quotes the Principals and Principles in Agricultural Education Report (2000) saying “Of all the environmental pressures that operated against principals effective administration, the bureaucracy accounted for most...the Department never seriously attempted to understand what made these institutions unique. It failed to appreciate that their effective operation required a special relationship, distinct from that extended to the comprehensive day high schools- a matter of negligence...” It went further (p116-117)This damning indictment of the indifference and negligence of the Department to the interests of schools like Hurlstone was followed up by the Chairman’s view that “this situation has changed little over the past decade and the Department of Education and Training does not currently have sufficient structures in place to provide clear guidance to the three residential agricultural high schools in relation to their farm and boarding schools.” (p117) “One of the key benefits Hurlstone offers is bridging the city-county divide, but this recommendation would create a physical, financial and cultural divide between the day school and the rural and boarding asset, and render the vision for an integrated centre almost impossible to achieve. It is a recipe for failure not future” “The school, boarding facilities and farm must be integrated, not separated. Putting the DET in direct control of the farm is a recipe for farm failure and future sale. No matter what they say, they can’t be trusted with it. “The DET have tried and failed three times in 20 years to get control of and sell off this farm. This proposed structure would put in charge the very people who have undermined the farm, have now been proven to have got the numbers wrong last year and have been bad for agriculture education. It is not acceptable.” “It would be putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank. Indeed, if you had to have any Department more involved in managing a farm it wouldn’t be the DET it would be the Agriculture Department. SHEAP said the Chairman’s vision can be achieved without structural separation and it would be far better to provide the additional resources and staff under the Principal, who in time should the most senior and experienced Agricultural educator in the system, with the Commercial Manager and a “Vice Principal” under him. High performance standards and resources are more likely to drive improved and integrated outcomes and vision desired - rather than a new, costly bureaucratic management structure. “The assumption that a new bureaucratic layer will create hundreds of thousands of dollars of efficiencies on a school farm that turns over $200,000 per year, while also serving education needs is a joke. This is bound to cost more and deliver less. It is also a snub to an excellent farm manager whose running of the farm has been vindicated by consultant reports, except she never got the resources now being suggested.” “There is no question delivery of agricultural education and the farm needs to improve, but we need to stop blaming the school for the lack of resources and the curriculum it teaches. It’s the DET stupid!” SHEAP believes there could broad agreement on the principles outlined except but the structural separation provided huge long term risks and essentially gave 100% of proceeds and control to the DET – which is what they always wanted. This recommendation is unacceptable.” “We are close to a positive outcome now and we want to play a value-adding role to most of the recommendations, noting we offered many of them in the first place. A high level advisory board on agricultural education is also a great idea.” “We also think the farms and boarding schools are integral part of residential agriculture schools and not separate entities. The separation of cultures, objectives and management would be a nightmare.’ “It is time for the Government to simply admit they were wrong. The Inquiry shows that the sale proposal was wrong and Hurlstone needs more resources and more emphasis on agriculture. A bureaucratic divide between the school and the farm is a potential showstopper to school community agreement,” she said Media contact: Tiffany Spiers 0439 620 018
Attached. 7 pages of Inquiry Report (Marked). Further response to individual elements will be provided after the report is released officially.
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