The Education Department has released details of its plans for new
schools in Wyndham after a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
appeal was filed against it.
Altona Labor MP Jill Hennessy lodged the appeal after the state
government refused to answer questions in Parliament about its
infrastructure plans and projected student numbers in Wyndham. The
department also refused to release documents under freedom of
information.
Some of the requested paperwork was posted to Ms Hennessy last week after she appealed to VCAT against the department’s decision.
A spokesman for Ms Hennessy said she was looking through the
information before deciding whether to continue with the appeal. Ms
Hennessy said she feared many children would miss out on a places in
local schools in the coming years.
“Population growth in the west has outstripped the provision of
infrastructure and services,” she said. “I’m concerned that the
government [is] either ignoring the population data or simply not
funding enough education infrastructure.
“We know our schools are packed to the rafters but the [state]
government refuses to come clean about any plans to build new schools.”
Ms Hennessy said her office had been contacted by parents worried about their children’s education.
Point Cook mother Alice Osborne has a son in prep and a daughter
who will go to school in three years. She has launched a petition
calling on the government to set aside land for schools.
Ms Osborne fears the suburb’s only government senior secondary
school, Point Cook Senior College, will be unable to cope with the
numbers of children now in prep to grade 3.
‘‘We can’t simply turn around in 10 years’ time and say we need to
build another senior school when there has been no land set aside to do
so,” she said.
An Education Department spokesman said it was aware of continued
population growth in Point Cook and was working with the council, Growth
Areas Authority and developers to ensure land was set aside for future
schools.
