A new campaign to have more schools built in Melbourne’s west has been dismissed as a smoke and mirrors tactic.
Altona Labor MP Jill Hennessy launched the campaign last week, saying the west would continue to struggle if more schools were not built to service a growing population.
“As development continues to be approved across Melbourne’s west, there is a distinct lack of adequate investment in education infrastructure, especially at the senior level,” Ms Hennessy said. “Many local residents are travelling long distances to access schools, dealing with the transport challenges and congestion in the process.”
Ms Hennessy urged residents to sign a petition calling for more schools. She said she would continue to advocate for greater funding to ‘‘ensure we can deliver the education excellence local young people deserve”.
But she did not promise schools would be built if Labor was elected in November.
With the state election only four months away, SKY High – which has been lobbying for a new secondary school in the Seddon, Kingsville and Yarraville (SKY) area for a decade – is compiling report cards on the major parties and their commitments to public education.
Labor has vowed to investigate the feasibility of a high school in the Seddon, Kingsville, Yarraville area. The government argues there is no need for the school, citing Education Department studies showing sufficient capacity at other inner-west schools.
SKY High, which presented a petition to local MPs Marsha Thomson and Wade Noonan in April, said residents had snapped up 10,000 of the group’s postcards which urge Premier Denis Napthine to act.
SKY High president Melissa Horne said the group had yet to receive a response from Dr Napthine. “We’ve written and sent emails to the Premier, the Education Minister and to [Western Metropolitan Liberal MP] Bernie Finn and their lack of engagement has been appalling,” she said.
“Already more than 2000 children attend local primary schools and our statistics show 78 per cent of their families want to send them to a local public secondary school.
“We’ll be encouraging local residents to carefully consider their vote this November.”
Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury said the Labor campaign was an election year hoax.
“They’re not saying what they would do differently, Mr Elsbury said. “Yes, you can sign the petition, but what are they going to do?”
He said at least five western suburbs schools were closed by Labor when it was last in power.
To view the petition, visit www.jillhennessy.com.au.
