21 November, 2024.
When we think of a new, you-beaut, top of the range, spare no expense, cutting edge development and the marketing campaign that goes with it, we picture idyllic homes, big streets, parks and shops. There are also images of families with their loved ones, old and young. Finally, of course, we have the images of young children and teens dressed to go to school. This all looks great in the catalogues, posters and online advertisements, and a new resident moving into Wollondilly would expect these things. However, the reality is something different.
I have spoken at length in this place about the disappointment my community and I feel when looking at the provisions for the needs of residents, such as sewers, jobs, police and health services. We also need schools—and here is the catch—for all students, primary and secondary. That is right: People who move into a new development do not have only young children. It is obvious to say that high schoolers are part of the families moving into their new homes in the growth areas of Wollondilly. There are also young families that have grown whose children have to leave Wollondilly on buses to travel to a high school 40 minutes away.
The solution that every developer seems to come up with is to plonk a cheap primary school into the mix. Meanwhile, the homes and population keep adding up. To make matters worse, existing villages have varying levels of growth, leading to some awful situations where schools in one village may not have enough classrooms yet the school in the next town may have too many. It is madness, and that is just the primary schools. As at today, there are no high schools planned for Wollondilly. We have a way to go to convince the Government, and I am confident the work I am doing with the Minister for Education and Early Learning will lead to great things. However, when I came into this job, the one public high school in Wollondilly Shire Council area, Picton High School, had no functioning hall and the open classrooms were disastrous.
I will never forget taking the Minister for Education and Early Learning there the students telling her of the worries they had for their school. Those students deserved much better than to be cast aside by the former member for Wollondilly. I discovered on coming into office that due to the company that was employed to fix the hall going bankrupt, the project sat idle for four years. I had to convince the Government to restart this process, and thankfully the hall is opening. Members should remember that there are 1,300 students in attendance with no hall.
At the same school, my community was promised a new redesign and a state-of-the-art facility. What was delivered was an amazing-looking building and campus with no internal walls in a number of sections. This led to stairs—literally, stairs—being marked as classrooms. The poor outcome led to a worse learning environment, which is being fixed as I speak, again at more cost to the Government. There is no winner when things like this get kicked between one area and another. The time that has been wasted in redesigning this school is a great shame. The cost could have gone into planning a new, second public high school.
Further education, or education that follows high school, is not an option at all for the Wollondilly electorate. We have the University of Sydney farms on our border, but even Camden likes to claim those as its own. We were promised outreach education facilities in Wilton New Town, but to date we do not even have a town centre. Our residents are forced to travel for university and TAFE. Apprenticeships are high in Wollondilly. Statistically, tradies are the highest and fastest growing employment sector. Yet the Government has not invested in this trend, leading to packed roads into and out of Wollondilly every day.
For children who have greater needs, the answer is not easy. There is only one school for children with multiple complex disabilities in Wollondilly—Tangara School in Mittagong. Even if the available spots were tripled, the need would not be met for all residents. The department seems intent on pushing families towards mainstream schools, causing further strain on schools in the north and south of my electorate. These children need extra special care. The list is long. My community should know that, while the wheels of government are dreadfully slow, I am making representations and fighting for what is right. I will not sit idle while halls are left in disrepair, schools are unplanned and classrooms are underutilised. I am not afraid to fight, as the independent voice of my community. I look forward to continuing this fight not only for the community but with them and their children for the schooling that we deserve in the Wollondilly electorate.
Ms CHARISHMA KALIYANDA (Member for Liverpool): I acknowledge the comments and concerns raised by the member for Wollondilly. In my previous life, I delivered mental health education workshops at Picton High School. I appreciate the anticipation of the community for the redevelopment of the school and then the subsequent disappointment of the community when the substantial cost of the works resulted in not a single additional place or extra capacity for students. I also respond as a member of a government that has recently invested over a billion dollars into essential school maintenance, including $6 million within the Liverpool electorate for incredibly basic school maintenance, which was not done for over a decade. I acknowledge the member's concerns about the needs of her fast-growing community. The Government will work with her to address those needs. She is a much better advocate than the previous member for Wollondilly.