It looked like many Canberra schools would close if it wasn't for community pressure to keep them open.
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In 1990, the ACT minister for education, Gary Humphries stated at a meeting that the tone of public submissions on school closures would "undoubtedly be persuasive in deciding the number of schools to close".
Nothing indicated that the 15-to-25 closures figure would change, but it was likely to be at the low end of the range.
The government planned to create fewer, bigger community schools to reduce an over-supply of 13,000 student places and cut education spending.
A second deadline for public comment on its blueprint for change, regarding shaping schools in the compulsory levels of ACT Public Education, ended.
The ACT branch of the Australian Democrats said the government had ignored the needs of parents and of neighbourhoods and wanted a moratorium on education changes pending a consultative review and a social-impact inquiry. The submission also called for an inquiry into public funding of all education.
Also featuring on the same page, The then prime minister, Bob Hawke, would announce the fate of one of Australia's top public servants, David Charles, who criticised the government's economic policy. Dr Charles had left the public service to become Australian consul-general in Berlin.