Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 John PESUTTO (Hawthorn) (19:13): (1825) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education, and the action I seek is for the minister to urgently address and fund much-needed refurbishments of all bathrooms at Glenferrie Primary School in Hawthorn. Over many years I have attended Glenferrie Primary School, a great learning place, where my own three daughters received their primary education and where I served on school council for a period and worked constructively with its leadership. There is, however, an ongoing and serious issue around the state of the school’s toilets and bathrooms. These toilets are more than 50 years old. The school’s toilets are dilapidated, unhygienic and unfit for purpose, and the smell is overwhelming. In fact back in July Glenferrie school council president Hannah Hammad described the toilets as ‘worse than a prison’. These are facilities that should not be used by any student or staff member. Some students are actually refusing to use the toilets and having accidents in the classroom.

There is a baseless perception that just because the school is in Hawthorn the school does not need upgrades or refurbishment because the area is affluent. This is a government school serving hundreds of local students and their families, and it is the responsibility of any caring and compassionate government that a school under their management is looked after. It does not matter whether the school is in Mildura, Traralgon, Sandringham or Hawthorn, every student at any school in Victoria deserves clean, hygienic and fit-for-purpose facilities. There should be no discrimination, no matter the postcode.

School principal Tanya Gurney is an exceptional leader who is leading a truly exceptional school community. It is squarely the responsibility of government to hear the cries of the school that needs its support. Earlier this year the Victorian School Building Authority categorised the school as ‘worn’; I think it is much worse than worn, it is totally unacceptable. Expanding beyond just the toilets, the junior school has old, decommissioned heaters, leaving some of the school’s youngest students shivering in classrooms in the middle of winter – no better, it can be argued, than the conditions of the school when it was first built in 1878.

Hannah Hammad has launched a change.org petition for urgent government investment in the school, with 518 signatures as of this morning. I urge the minister to come down and visit with me and have a look at the state of the toilets and the classrooms. Let us give the students of Glenferrie Primary School the best start in life. With more than 150 years of history, let us ensure that it can continue to deliver quality education for the next 150 years. The Liberals and Nationals will ensure Glenferrie Primary School receives the urgent funds and repairs it needs. I encourage this Labor government to do the same.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Northcote, member for Hawthorn, there were two actions within that. There was one originally, and then there was –

John PESUTTO: To urgently address and fund much-needed infrastructure.