In the wake of noncommittal responses from Education Minister Grace Grace at last week's budget estimates committee hearings, opposition education spokesman Christian Rowan has called for the government to "just get on with it" and fix the accommodation at Longreach and Emerald distance education campuses.
On-campus accommodation funded by P&Cs at both schools have been declared off-limits to families by the Education Department, citing fire safety and workplace health and safety concerns.
Dr Rowan quizzed the minister and the department's director-general Tony Cook on what funding the government had allocated for rectification work at both venues.
He was told that the government was waiting for a final report from the Department of Energy and Public Works to determine what needed to be done to make the on-campus accommodation compliant with building codes.
The Education Department's director-general Tony Cook said a draft report showed a range of things needed to be done in relation to fire safety and lighting at the Emerald campus, as a well as a broader issue around the number of people sleeping in the building.
Dr Rowan said the state government had ignored the desperate pleas of families at Longreach and at the Emerald campus of the Capricornia School of Distance Education for too long.
"Through sustained advocacy, including via Gregory MP Lachlan Millar, together with direct questioning by myself during the recent hearings, the Minister for Education has committed that the government 'will make sure that funding is available' and that it will 'work with the community to provide the best for them'," he said.
"Disappointingly, the Palaszczuk government will not provide a definitive timeline for this to be resolved."
P&Cs at both schools have been lobbying without success to have the on-campus boarding facilities they funded made safe for their use once again, so that families don't have to compete for accommodation for a week at motels in peak tourist season, which as well as being much more expensive, is splitting the school community up.
It has resulted in the launching of a petition, sponsored by Mr Millar, for the department to return the buildings to their original use.
Responding to Dr Rowan's question about whether capital infrastructure funding had been provided, and what the timeline was for a resolution to issues identified, Mr Cook said they would work with the Capricornia SDE and its P&C to find "a way forward to see how we can best meet the needs of that particular group of students".
"All schools have capital funding, so there might be some contribution that the school provides in relation to that," he said.
"We also have capital for refurbishments and things like that.
"I will make those decisions once the final data is made available to me."
Education Minister Grace Grace said she would be directing the department to "get on with it" and work with the community.
"If we can resolve these issues, by all means we will do so. We will make sure that the funding is available," she said.
"We want to work with the community to provide the best for them. However, I will not - and neither will the department - compromise health and safety while I am the minister."
Departmental reports
Mr Cook told the hearings that the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services report from its formal safety inspection of the Emerald campus in February said the accommodation there should not be used unless upgrades are made to make buildings safe.
"This month we have had the Department of Energy and Public Works visit both the Emerald and the Longreach campuses to provide us with a report about those facilities and making them compliant with the Building Code of Australia and the National Construction Code," he said.
"A range of things need to be done. It is about smoke alarms, detection systems that need to be installed, exit lighting, emergency lighting, parking and there are some issues about some of the doors.
"There is a broader issue about ensuring that the number of people who sleep in that facility meet the National Construction Code.
"At the moment that number is probably less under the code than might have been sleeping in that facility in the past. We need to have some conversations with the school and the P&C in relation to that."
Mr Cook said some time had been needed to "really unpack the issues", such as QFES not being able to do the work required because a certifier was needed to do it.
"QFES...did the safety component. They do not carry out the work around meeting codes and things like that," Mr Cook said.
"I do not want to go through the technicalities, but effectively we are talking about a class 3 building now.
"Generally, schools are rated a class 9b. Accommodation which looks at dormitory accommodation and residential facilities in a school are called class 3.
"As you would appreciate, a range of additional requirements apply to class 3, particularly in relation to fire separation, about other buildings et cetera."
Mr Cook expected the final report to be available "in the next several weeks".
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