'Yes Minister' bureaucracy has school for special needs seeing red over loo blue

20th April 2010

From the Parliamentary Library

Author: JEWEL TOPSFIELD

Publisher: Fairfax

Publication: The Age, Page 1 (Fri 16 Apr 2010)

Keywords: Martin (1),Dixon (1)

Edition: First

A SCHOOL for children with special needs was told it may not be able to get disabled toilets because of the one-size-fits-all projects imposed under the federal schools stimulus program.

In what one parent described as a Yes Minister episode, Frankston Special Development School was told the template for the three classrooms and multipurpose area to be built at the school did not come with toilets.

And despite growing enrolments, the school is still in the dark about when the classrooms will be built - more than a year after the stimulus program was announced.

Principal Judy Lonza said the school community was incredibly frustrated it had not been able to use the $850,000 grant it received where it was needed.

"We have students with disabilities - a lot of our children aren't toilet trained so we have got to have toilet facilities," Ms Lonza said. "All of our classrooms have to have toilets attached to them."

Ms Lonza said the school was prepared to pay for the toilets, but had been told by the Education Department that the classrooms may not even be connected to water.

"No one will give me an answer as to whether we can have toilets," she said.

But a spokesman for the Education Department said designs for the classrooms will include disabled toilets. He said the project had been delayed because initial tenders did not represent value for money.

"The school's project manager will contact the school shortly to present this new building solution and to work through the timelines for the project to be completed," he said.

Parent Phil Hayes-Brown said he was angry the school had been pushed to the bottom of the list because it had asked for special consideration.

"Given the special nature of this school, it is ludicrous for federal authorities in charge of the schools handouts program to force it to comply with standard templates," Mr Hayes-Brown said.

"It's just madness . . . it's like some Yes Minister episode. It is not only a waste of money and time, it is also an abuse of a unique group in our community."

Ms Lonza said the school had initially applied to use the $850,000 to build an early learning centre.

But she was told she wasn't allowed to have an early learning centre because there was no template and the school was forced to settle for a design with three classrooms - only to be told they did not come with toilets.

Ms Lonza said she had spoken to a local builder who could have built the classrooms and toilets - plus landscaping and furniture - for $850,000, had the school been allowed to manage the project itself.

But because of the lack of flexibility of the program, she was still waiting to hear from the state government-appointed project managers.

The last email, received on March 5, said the first buildings would be constructed by March-April, but nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, the Victorian Legislative Council has voted to hold an inquiry into the state's administration of the stimulus program. "The administration of the [program] in Victoria has been beset with secrecy, threats and a failure to deliver value-for-money projects in a timely manner," said opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon.

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Martin Dixon MP
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Shop 1, McCrae Plaza
Cnr Lonsdale Street and Pt Nepean Road
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Phone: (61) 3 5986 6661
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Email: martin.dixon@parliament.vic.gov.au