TRANSCRIPT:
I am pleased to rise today and speak on this matter of public importance submitted by the member for Niddrie, which boasts about the work the Allan Labor government is doing in the education sector. It is lovely to follow the latest contribution about pushing boundaries, because I think I will give you an explanation of the boundaries that this government is really pushing. While it is not an attempt to be self-indulgent, this MPI is an attempt to pat the government on the back. But I must give Labor a healthy dose of reality.
Within my electorate is Kilmore, the largest town in Victoria without a public secondary school, located in one of the biggest growth corridors in the state. The only secondary school option currently in Kilmore is Assumption College, a private school that has fees starting from nearly $9000 a year. Assumption is an outstanding school, because it did produce one of my fabulous staff members and digital wizards; however, not everyone in Kilmore has the opportunity to attend private school. Down the road in Broadford and Wallan the schools are already at or very nearing capacity, and students as young as 12 years old are having to make a 2-hour commute to and from school each day. The need for a school in Kilmore has been repeatedly brought to this government’s attention, yet it has been ignored every time.
There was a golden opportunity just missed due to a lack of urgency and care from this government and from the former Minister for Education. Despite thousands of local residents signing petitions calling for the state government to purchase the former Colmont School campus, it was instead sold privately. The previous Minister for Education was made aware of this opportunity on multiple occasions and was invited to meet with local families to hear how desperately they needed this school. Instead she did nothing, demonstrating a short-sightedness and arrogance that has resulted in hundreds of families being left without reasonable local education options. This former school campus was ready-made and conveniently on the market, and it had the opportunity to provide a cost-effective solution to this very real problem for our community. So I ask: why should these children be placed at such a disadvantage just because of where they live? This is not some rural, remote location; this is Kilmore, one of the fastest growing towns in our state. It is time to listen to the community and provide them with a public school.
I have some direct quotes from Kilmore residents who have signed the petition. There are nearly 3500 signatures, so I think I will just give you a couple of those comments. Rachel Fairman said:
… family’s and children should not have to suffer exhaustion to gain an education …
Jamie Leahy said:
I have 3 kids who will all need a high school to go to soon. I shouldn’t have to bus them out of town so they can get the education they deserve!
Meghan Thorpe said:
I have 2 children that will be attending high school in the next few years my husband and I can’t afford a private school and don’t want to travel really far away …
Margaret Kelly said:
There is an empty school, you don’t have a school, yet somehow the government is not joining the dots!
Tracey Challis said:
The amount of housing getting built in the area, the growth of the township and surrounding areas, there is definitely enough families to warrant a public highschool … A town this size and only offering a private school is just wrong. There has been talks and petitions –
but –
… This has been needed for several years … It’s about time the government listened.
Rebecca Hocking said:
We need more options for public high schools in the area, having a public high school option for Kilmore will relieve commuting stress factors and make schools more accessible.
Families in Kilmore should not be forced into paying for a private school as their only option within town or having to commute to a completely different town just so their child can receive an education. I think everyone in this chamber can agree that everyone deserves an education close to home. These are just a handful of the thousands of responses received, nearly 3500 signatures, all of which agree that this Labor government has let them down when it comes to finding reasonable education for their children. We could fill a school tomorrow in Kilmore, yet I have got nothing but crickets out of this government, who is bold enough to brag about its education investments. How can this government pat themselves on the back about their contributions to education while this goes on?
Unfortunately, Kilmore is not the only part of my electorate desperately campaigning for a public school. I want to thank Shayne Swansborough for his recent work pushing for a public secondary school in Heathcote, another community with a significant population to warrant a secondary school. With two primary schools in the town, Heathcote sees seven busloads of secondary school children depart every morning for trips between 45 minutes to 1 hour each way. Most children on these buses are now required to leave home by 7:30 am and will not get home until nearly 5 pm. With a secondary school in Heathcote, the children would save 2 hours a day in travel. On top of this, we have issues at schools in Tooborac, issues electorate-wide with students unable to access free school bus routes, road safety issues at Colbinabbin Primary School and concerns over school crossing supervisors in both the Strathbogie shire and in Heathcote.
Funding debates continue between our local councils and the state government over who will adequately fund the school crossing supervisor program, leaving our children incredibly vulnerable in the meantime. The program was previously fully funded through the department of transport, with the percentage contribution from the Victorian government rapidly declining in recent years and cost shifting to local councils. This is a matter of utmost importance to our local community that has to be resolved and is genuinely putting children’s lives on the line until it is resolved. Conversations I have had with community members have made it clear that this is something worth fighting for, and I stand with them. We will not stop fighting until our children are safe. Calls for the supervisors to be reinstated have hit fever pitch following a near miss of a collision by a speeding vehicle at a school crossing. Despite Nagambie Primary School principal Rob French wearing a hi-vis vest and holding a stop sign, this speeding car nearly hit him. If it had been a child crossing the road unsupervised, then there is no doubt this could have been a horrific ending. It is concerning that there has been a lack of urgency in ensuring the safety of our children at school crossings by this government.
Another point I must raise is the state of child care in Victoria, particularly in regional Victoria. As things currently stand, regional Victoria is in dire need of more childcare centres, because you are right: we are riddled with childcare deserts. Kilmore, Broadford, the Benalla region and the Seymour region are all classified as childcare deserts by the Mitchell Institute. Waitlists in many towns in my electorate are now up to two years long. In Seymour we have an eight-baby capacity in a childcare centre and an 80-strong waitlist. We have got incredible local childcare providers, but in most of these places there are up to six kids competing for one place. It is not sustainable. These are major towns, but they are being placed at a disadvantage when child care is so rare. The lack of childcare options is placing a significant barrier on young people who want to raise their family in regional Victoria. Towns like Nagambie and Avenel were not included in the new childcare facility announcement, despite serious problems finding local childcare in these areas.
While we have seen the announcement of 50 new childcare early learning centres that will be established across the state, the issues persist with the rollout. As part of the government’s plan for new early learning centres I was pleased that Seymour, located in my electorate. was included to alleviate some of the strain on the system locally. But our community is now angry about this misleading announcement. The reality is that it will not be delivered until beyond 2028, if it is delivered at all, and it is an absolute slap in the face to parents not wanting but needing to return to work.
This headline-grabbing announcement has prevented private providers and not-for-profits from filling the childcare void, yet this government has no goal to actually deliver and relieve childcare centres. The Allan Labor government is simply not prepared to fix the childcare crisis, and in many cases it could be argued that it is compounding the crisis with the slow rollout of centres. We are already seeing a scramble by this government to find ways to deliver yet another program they have announced without a suitable or thought-out plan.
In 2023 the Australian Childcare Alliance surveyed over 600 childcare centres, with over two-thirds responding by saying they had capped enrolments due to staffing shortages. As a result 16,000 childcare places lay dormant due to the workforce crisis. Disruptions and distortions to the market could result in a significant reduction in the number of childcare places. The government estimates it would need 700 educators and 100 teachers and support staff. The hundreds of staff will need to be ready to go in these centres from day one. Simply put, this government has not earned the right to boast about its contributions to education.