Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (19:08): (1833) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education. The action I seek is that the minister commit funding towards the full redevelopment of Mount Eliza Secondary College, where the facilities are now mostly 51 years old. Mount Eliza Secondary College needs a comprehensive redevelopment to keep up with the needs of its students, parents, teachers and more. The school is one of only two public secondary schools within my electorate. Around 800 students rely on it as the school that they are able to access, yet large parts of the school grounds are chronically under-resourced, with dilapidated facilities and more. Most of the classrooms are over 50 years old and ageing visibly. Many fixtures have also been due for repair since at least 2000. The main school gym and drama centre are underequipped and underlit, providing only minimal opportunities for students, and it was not too long ago that parents and school community leaders expressed urgent concerns about the growing presence of black mould, peeling paint, falling plaster and much more lining the interiors of students’ learning environments. This pattern of neglect is obviously unacceptable.

This is an issue that I have been conscious of and working to advocate for since I was actually first elected as a federal member of Parliament way back in 2016, and I have worked hand in hand with the school community in advocating for this school. I have firmly advocated in this regard for further improvements. Whether it was repeatedly raising this in Parliament, in my maiden speech, with ministers directly or in parliamentary speeches to this day, after years of community and political advocacy, the state finally allocated just short of $500,000 to Mount Eliza Secondary College recently. This went to the refurbishment of student toilet facilities and crucial safety and wellbeing upgrades, but it did not go very far. We have also seen recently the construction of Mount Eliza Secondary College’s new STEM facilities using federal funding, something that I advocated for when I was a federal MP. However, this is not sufficient to address many years of neglect and non-investment. The school needs a government willing to implement an actual plan. The Liberals and Nationals showed our commitment last election in May 2022 when we pledged $2.5 million for a senior students learning centre, but this commitment was not matched at the time by the Labor government. Ex-student leaders Jimmy and Chelsea raised with me their concerns about the ageing facilities at the time and launched a petition, which gained nearly 900 signatures. Now the new school council have launched a new petition, which has garnered many hundreds of signatures already. They need a dedicated wellbeing facility. They need a senior learning and drama centre. They need a master plan for a redevelopment.