Wednesday, 15 October 2025

 Jess WILSON (Kew) (19:43): (1344) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Education, and the action that I am seeking is for the minister to publicly reveal the amount of Victorian taxpayer money that he is spending on barristers and other legal advice to take me to VCAT over a freedom-of-information request. In late 2023, I submitted an FOI request seeking access to a list of condition assessment reports for every school in the state. Releasing these documents would provide transparency about the maintenance and facility upgrades needed in our schools, where that is in the greatest need, where school funding is being directed and where the priority is right here and now. My request was knocked back by the Department of Education, with the department informing me that disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. But the Victorian Information Commissioner came back and said the department was wrong and that this information is in the public interest – it is in the public interest that Victorians know where maintenance of publicly funded schools is in greatest need.

With dozens of upgrades being delayed in Labor’s recent budgets and basic upgrades taking up to 12 ‍months to be addressed, Labor is failing to appropriately maintain and upkeep Victorian schools. We have classrooms with asbestos, rising damp and mould. At Canterbury Girls Secondary College in my own electorate, a wall collapsed a few years ago, sending bricks and glass crashing to the floor. Luckily, no-one was hurt, but students were on campus at the time, with more than 100 staff and 1000 ‍students. This is a school that is in desperate need of upgrade, and it is just one example around the state.

On what planet, with the maintenance of Victorian school facilities publicly funded by Victorian taxpayers, is it not in the public interest to disclose how the maintenance scores of each one of those schools is monitored and listed in this state? Not only is the government refusing to release this information but it is spending significant resources on barristers and legal advice. I ask: what does Ben Carroll have in common with Novak Djokovic? It is not 24 grand slam titles, but it is Nick Wood SC, the barrister who represented Mr Djokovic on his issues when he came to Australia during COVID. MinterEllison are representing the Minister for Education to prevent the release of this information, with tens of thousands of dollars at a minimum being wasted by this government to fight information that is in the public interest.