Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Adjournment

Caulfield South Primary School

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (19:00): (1101) The member’s action that I have today is for the Minister for Education, and the action that I seek from the Minister for Education for Caulfield South Primary School is show me the money. It is $9 million worth of money, and this school is desperate for that $9 million. This was an election commitment back in 2022. It was an election commitment that both Labor and we went with to the public, and certainly the Liberal–Nationals had $11 million on the table. Labor had $9 million. We all know the result; Labor won the election. Unfortunately the school were $2 million short, but they have not seen any of that. They are $9 million short. In the 2022–23 budget there was some planning money. There are plans there ready to go. All we need now is to pull those plans out of the drawer, open them up and get them sorted.

It was a pleasure to attend with our shadow education minister Jess Wilson and visit with Rohan Cooper and talk to the school and talk to some of the issues, in particular with president Jackie Dzienciol, and have a look around the school and see what the $9 million will do – a multipurpose basketball court that will double as an assembly area, because at the moment the kids are having their assemblies out in the rain; a STEAM centre to be able to do science, technology and arts and have that all in a new centre; and, importantly, to ensure we get upgrades of the classrooms and everything else that goes with it.

If we keep waiting, the $9 million will not buy a school upgrade. It will not buy a classroom upgrade let alone a school upgrade, and that is why it is so important for the school for the government to finally get their skates on. I know a member in the upper house, Ryan Batchelor, has been out, been very excited in making announcements, but when he has been called in the moment – nowhere to be seen. I understand there are 20-plus schools also in the same predicament in the state of Victoria, and I know the government is struggling to find money at the moment. But come on – if you make an election commitment, you have to follow through. This school was meant to be built, all done and dusted, by the 2026 election. The way we are going now, who knows when. I would love to be the one that actually cuts the ribbon on the thing when we, hopefully, get to government after 2026, but we are giving you the opportunity to cut the ribbon, provide the money and finally show me the money for Caulfield South Primary School.