Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Members statements

St Arnaud Secondary College

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (12:17): Today I rise to talk about the St Arnaud Secondary College and the fact the government is ripping $360 000 out of their rebuilding project. This is a cause close to my heart. I had originally asked back in November 2019 for the change rooms and the toilet block and all of that area at St Arnaud College to be upgraded. The government did not support that at that time, but they later did support that campaign. And then in the last budget they provided the secondary college with a $10 million rebuild amount, but they have now told the college that they are going to rip out that $360 000, so the college will end up with a smaller project than what the government had promised.

This is a school that is really kicking goals. It is the only school in Ripon in which every single VCE student applied to go to university, and they were all accepted. This is a fantastic school that is really, really trying to make sure that everybody in St Arnaud gets a great education, yet the government is ripping money out of their rebuild projects. I also note that they are being charged to remove the demountables from this school by the building authority, and then the school that is getting them is also being charged. Now, somebody is making something on the way through and this needs to change, and it needs to be fixed.