THE principal of Western Autistic School has expressed deep disappointment with comments made by a Liberal upper house MP who called for her dismissal in State Parliament last week.
Under parliamentary privilege, Western Metropolitan MP Bernie Finn said Val Gill should be dismissed following comments made to the Weekly.
“She has caused and continues to cause both confusion and enormous distress to parents who have done nothing to deserve such treatment,” he said.
“Her statement, as reported in the local newspaper last week, referring to autistic-specific schools as autism silos, is the last straw. It is insulting and it is deeply offensive. She continues to put her own empire ahead of the interests of children with autism and their families.
“As a result, I ask the minister to dismiss Ms Gill from her role as principal of Western Autistic School. I am aware of the gravity of this request, but I believe the time has well and truly come to put the kids first.”
Ms Gill told the Weekly: “I’m deeply disappointed with his comments and my focus has always been the kids”.
In our February 14 report – headlined The different faces of autism – Ms Gill said she understood that parents wanted the option of a prep-to-year 12 autism-specific school.
“But to have them in an autistic environment from prep until the real world, somewhere in that you would have to build in the opportunity for those kids to blossom in a social world and not in a purely autistic environment,” she said.
“And talking to [special education consultant] Professor Loretta Giorcelli, she’s saying that an autism silo is against all international best practice and research. My dream would be that every school in the state has an inclusion program with a teacher there and staff that are trained to understand our kids.
“What we need to look at in education is a range of options for different needs. There isn’t one option that is right.”
State Williamstown MP Wade Noonan has called on the government to apologise.
“This is the grubbiest attack that I’ve seen in my time in politics. If the Baillieu government had any integrity they’d immediately sanction Bernie Finn and publicly apologise to Ms Gill.
“Anything less from this government would send a message to all principals that they are fair game for Liberal MPs.”
Mr Finn replied: “Mr Wade should check with some of his constituents before talking about something he clearly has no understanding of.
“It’s very sad Labor has decided petty politics is more important than the welfare of children with autism and their families.”
Last Thursday in Parliament, Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews and opposition education spokesman James Merlino called on Education Minister Martin Dixon to rule out Mr Finn’s suggestion that Ms Gill be sacked.
“Mr Dixon twice refused to condemn or even acknowledge this cowardly attack by Mr Finn, and we can only conclude that he condones this behaviour,” Mr Merlino said. “If the Education Minister had any guts, he’d pull Mr Finn into line and make him apologise.
“This is utter hypocrisy from a minister who has today been promoting a new state government campaign to stop bullying.”
Mr Merlino accused Mr Finn of “shamelessly hiding behind parliamentary privilege”.
Asked if he was willing to call for Ms Gill’s dismissal outside Parliament, Mr Finn did not respond. President of the Australian Eduction Union’s Victorian branch Mary Bluett said it was terrible that the minister failed to stand up for a principal who was under attack, “and this principal in particular. Val Gill is an internationally recognised leader in the area of autism”.
A spokesman for Mr Dixon, James Martin said: “The minister does not have the authority to dismiss a principal, nor is he considering it.”
-With The Age
