Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question relates to access to school education for people with disability. I know, through my conversations with you, Minister, that this is something near and dear to your heart. A couple of years ago my wife, who is an early childhood teacher, was told that she was going to have a child with Down syndrome in her class. She teaches in the Catholic system. It sort of freaked her out because she had never had much to do with Down syndrome children, although she has had a lot to do with children with other disabilities. After doing some research, what she found was that it rekindled her love of teaching. What this child—I am sure the parents will not mind me mentioning her name—Lola has brought to my wife's school has been an absolute gift of inclusion and a sense of community in the school. My son was lucky enough to be in year 7 when Lola was in preschool and he became her year7 buddy. Although she was non-verbal, my son learnt a fair bit of Auslan to be able to communicate with her.

I have a group of people from my community who meet with us regularly. We have a series of requests in relation to access. It seems to me that what my parents are chasing is a consistent approach to back the programs we have, to be open to questions and to make sure the community has access to them. The big question from my parents, especially the parents of young Ben, has been about the transition to high school, and that seems to be the most scary thing. I know that schools and education sit primarily with state governments, but could you outline what you see as the major things we are doing in relation to access for people with disabilities to school communities? What do you think we can push through COAG with the state governments in relation to access for students with disabilities?

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