﻿Mr SPEAKER: Question No 10, Hon Ruth Dyson.
Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills) to the Minister of Education:
What further advice, if any, did she receive that led
to her decision to consult on the closing of Redcliffs School,
following the advice she received from geotechnical experts
in September last year that “with the mitigation measures in place,
"the risk from rockfall is considered to be no higher
"on the school grounds than on any site remote from the Port Hills”?
Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education):
I have made no decision. I have initiated consultation on a proposal.
My proposal is based on all the reports I have received.
Families want assurances of safety and certainty,
not just now but into the future. Although the modelling
and risk mitigations propose measures of safety,
they also predict further rockfalls from the cliffs’ ongoing degradation.
Periodic removal of the students may be required to ensure
that the school grounds remain safe. I am concerned that families
cannot be given assurance that this will be a safe school site over time.
Hon Gerry Brownlee: Reckless Labour.
Hon Ruth Dyson: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
I take offence at the interjection from Minister Brownlee and ask
that you require him to withdraw and apologise.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member has taken offence.
I ask the Hon Gerry Brownlee to withdraw that remark.
Hon Gerry Brownlee: For the offence, I withdraw the remark. But it is reckless—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! No, no—that is where we get into trouble, Mr Brownlee.
If I ask any member to withdraw, they do so without any further comment.
Hon Ruth Dyson: Why has she cited safety and uncertainty
as the primary driver of her proposal to close Redcliffs School
when the MWH, Beca, and GNS reports all say that a simple
and cost-effective bund at the back of the school property
would provide a level of safety that is significantly greater
than what is required to live in the surrounding houses?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: I cited safety over time, and in the primary response
to the question I indicated that although the engineers
have certainly said that they could make mitigations
to make the school site safe, they have also said that
there will be further rockfalls, that periodically the bund
may not be able to maintain the capacity it has and will need
to be repaired, and that during those reassessments it is likely
that the students will need to be removed from the school site.
Hon Ruth Dyson: What specialist advice, if any, did she receive
that led her to say that the reassessment, clearing,
and repairing of the bund, if damaged in a possible
future cliff collapse, could take 2 years?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: What led me to say that was reading the reports
that had been provided. What led me to say that there was a need
for this consultation to occur was because of my ongoing concern
for the safety of students on that site and for undisrupted provision
of good quality education, not only now but into the future.
May I repeat that I have made no decision. I have initiated
consultation on a proposal.
Hon Ruth Dyson: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
My last supplementary was very specific: what specialist advice did she receive—
Mr SPEAKER: No, it was not.
The question was what specific advice, if any, led the Minister to say that.
The Minister obviously just moved to the second part and told the House
what led her to say the comments that the member quoted in her question.
Hon Ruth Dyson: What advice has she got for the thousands
of Sumner, Clifton, and Redcliffs residents who drive along
the main road every day who are at greater risk from the potential
rockfall than the pupils and staff of Redcliffs School if they went home?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: The advice that I have taken into account
relates to the school grounds, and as Minister of Education
that is my primary responsibility and that is the one that I am discharging.
Hon Ruth Dyson: If the Redcliffs community demonstrates
through the consultation period overwhelming support for their school
to come home, will she support that school returning?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: The consultation period provides not only
for the specific Redcliffs School community but for anyone else
to make a submission. I will consider every submission
that is put forward to me during that process.
Mr SPEAKER: Question No 11.
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