Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a state school. Then, in addition to that, when the water ran low they could not wash their hands. The teachers had to make the staff toilet available to the kids at times as well to try to keep up with the problem. It was a disaster waiting to happen; something like hepatitis or dysentery was just around the corner.

Since I raised this in the parliament recently, I am pleased to tell the House today that the state Minister for Education and Training, Mr Welford, has agreed to provide the school with two $3,000 tanks; in addition to that, he is going to upgrade the toilet system. I hope he will look into providing a line down to the creek so that we have a back-up in the future. But you cannot have kids in state schools living in Third World conditions. Surely it is up to the education department to provide shelter, water, sewerage and light—the basic fundamentals. While I am more than satisfied and happy that the kids will now be looked after properly, I call on the state government to make sure that this sort of appalling episode is not repeated in other small state schools.

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