Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Euroa electorate

Ms RYAN (Euroa) (14:41): (6178) My question is to the Minister for Education. Seymour College has been forced to close its 10-year-old hydrotherapy pool because the school does not have enough money to keep it open. Maybe that very tough decision by the school should not be a surprise given the Productivity Commission’s report last week, which shows that Victoria has the lowest level of funding per student for government schools of any state or territory in Australia. But this pool was not just used by the school. It was also used for therapy by locals who have disabilities, and the town’s disability services provider, Goulburn Options, is absolutely dismayed by its closure. My question for the minister is: will the minister provide the funding that is required to immediately reopen this pool and guarantee its ongoing availability not just to the school but to the wider community?