Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am concerned at the recent decision by Delfin Lend Lease to provide a parcel of land for a primary school to be run by Independent Colleges Australia rather than provide it to Christ the Priest Catholic Primary School, a Catholic school in my electorate, which, as anyone who lives in Caroline Springs knows, has a very strong relationship with the community and is in high demand. Independent Colleges Australia, or ICA, is a Brisbane based company which, up until recently, was a subsidiary of ABC Learning Pty Ltd. ICA has no history of providing education to primary school children in Australia. Therefore, there are certain questions that need to be addressed. Does the fact that ABC Learning and Delfin Lend Lease share a director have any bearing on Delfin’s decision to sell the land to ICA? Does the fact that ABC Learning and ICA share two directors, one of whom is the wife of ABC Learning’s chief executive officer, mean that there are still ties that bind those two companies?

In the end all that should matter is that the families in Caroline Springs get to choose where they want to send their children. I consider Caroline Springs College—a very good state school—Mowbray College and Christ the Priest Catholic Primary School to be three great schools that should be first afforded the opportunity to expand in order to cater for the rapid growth in Caroline Springs. They should be preferred over other schools that have no relationship with the community. (Time expired)