Thursday, 23 February 2023

Merri-bek North education plan

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (17:19): (64) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education. The action I seek is for the minister to provide the latest update on the development of the new education plan for Merri-bek North and to advise how the plan will benefit current and future generations of local secondary school students. As I outlined in my first speech, I am a proud product of our local public education system, having attended Coburg West Primary School. However, when it came time to attend secondary school my parents enrolled me at Northcote High School, which is still in the northern suburbs but just the other side of the Merri Creek. That was because the Kennett Liberal government’s closure of the original Coburg High School in the 1990s, along with the closure of a dozen other local schools, including Oak Park High, Newlands High, and Hadfield High, created an absence of viable local secondary school options for many young people of my era.

Fast-forward to 2009, and I was proud to have the opportunity to support the residents’ successful campaign to establish a new year 7 to year 12 high school in Coburg, north of Bell Street, which eventually reopened its doors in 2015. Recommencing with just around 170 year 7 students, Coburg High has now grown to become the biggest secondary school situated within the Pascoe Vale electorate, consisting of over 1200 students today, and is on track to reach over 1400 students by 2027. Whilst Coburg High’s success has come with its own growth challenges, Coburg High is a case in point in how local secondary schools can grow and thrive when the state government, local parents and communities come together to back in, talk up, believe in and, most importantly, invest in local secondary school options. That is why I am so proud to be part of a re-elected Andrews Labor government that has remained steadfast in its dedication to building the Education State, including by a record $150 million invested and committed towards upgrading every local school across my electorate, including $10 million for Glenroy College, $15 million for Pascoe Vale Girls College and $21 million for Strathmore Secondary College.

But along with these investments, as the new local member and as a local parent, I also know we have more work to do to keep improving our local secondary schools so that all students have the same opportunities to excel. That is why I was delighted to have joined the Minister for Education and the now member for Broadmeadows in October 2022 to announce that the Victorian Labor government will develop a landmark new education plan for Merri-bek North. This is an education plan that will make provision for a range of local education needs and priorities and is a plan that has been accompanied by record local investments, including for Coburg High and John Fawkner Secondary College – $14.5 million for them. It is a plan that will provide us with a pathway locally to consider the unique challenges impacting the wellbeing and opportunities of students across Merri-bek, including at Glenroy College and Pascoe Vale Girls College. I am particularly enthusiastic about the plan providing opportunities for local secondary school communities to collaborate and become more connected in sharing and aligning their resources and expertise.

I am looking forward to working through the development of Labor’s positive education plan for Merri-bek North, which we have now been given a mandate to deliver on. I would like to also take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank all of the secondary school teachers and support staff from across my electorate for their outstanding work, including Daryl Croke from the Australian Education Union and all his members, and I look forward to the minister’s response.