Wednesday, 16 August 2023

 Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (19:03): (292) My adjournment this evening is to the Minister for Education, and the action I seek is for the minister to update my community on the progress of planning works for the next stage of Mordialloc College’s redevelopment. Mordialloc College is a wonderful school in our local community led by principal Michelle Roberts. I have said before that they really excel in excellence in education and equity in education in everything that they do. Not only do you experience that each and every time you visit, but they are actually a back-to-back Lindsay Thompson medal award winner, which is the Brownlow of education awards in Victoria. They won that back to back. I do not think there is a school that has done that before. But it shows the leadership, the quality of education and the best standards that are provided to students of Mordialloc College.

We made a really important commitment of $12.6 million to fund their next stage of redevelopment. The Mordialloc College community have a STEM ambition there to support their students. It goes on the back of substantial redevelopments that have happened here that have only been possible because of an Andrews Labor government. We have seen the investment in the performing arts centre and the basketball pavilion and stadium there. We have seen the upgrades to the junior learning centre and the modernisation of the year 12 buildings as well. This school, when I came to being the member for Mordialloc and representing that community in this Parliament, had about 572 students. It now has 1250 students. It is a school of destination, it has excellence in results and we are really appreciative of the work that has been done there. That next stage of redevelopment was a commitment made, and there has been planning funding that has been allocated in the budget to realise some of that ambition as the school community continues to grow.

Just recently I had the opportunity to connect with the students at an assembly attended by a former student who graduated in 2017, Imogen Kane, who has become a United Nations youth representative and will go to New York in a little while. She has been going all around the country picking up the views of youth and their perspectives and sharing them more broadly on a range of issues from climate change to equality, the cost of living and gender-responsive policy as well. So I want to give a big shout-out to Imogen Kane, a graduate of Mordialloc College in 2017. It just shows the excellence and quality of students who come out of here. Also she has led productions during that time and given back to her school community, just one example of the many things that Mordialloc College is known for and what we know in our local community.

We want to make sure that our schools have the first-class facilities for the first-class education that is provided. That is what that $12.6 million commitment is all about – realising that ambition and delivering for that future going forward. We give a big shout-out to the principal Michelle Roberts, her principal leadership team and the teachers and education support staff that do an incredible job to make our community the best it can be.