Wednesday, 23 February 2022

Members statements

Greater Shepparton Secondary College

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (09:43): On Friday, 11 February, the Premier snuck into Shepparton to open the deeply unpopular Greater Shepparton Secondary College. The Premier posted a feel-good video about the opening on his social media but had to hide the post on his time line and delete most of the comments altogether because of the angry reaction of the Shepparton community. What Daniel Andrews will not be talking about on his Facebook page or anywhere else are the numerous problems being experienced by students and parents regarding the school. One concerning issue is the number of students being left on the side of the road by school buses too full to pick them up.

My office has been inundated with parents detailing examples of having to collect stranded children because the buses were so overcrowded they could not fit another passenger. Several parents have written to PTV as well as complained to the school, but the overwhelming response by the Andrews government is that it has no money to add additional buses to the services in Shepparton. One parent has had to pick up her children four times because they were left behind by the bus and another parent has reported a bus driver walking off a bus with no explanation. The driver then kicked the children off the bus and drove off with an empty bus. This is not good enough. The state government has a duty of care to ensure that all students using the school bus program get home safely, and so far they are failing dismally in Greater Shepparton.

Dr Cumming: On a point of order, President, in members statements could you please ask the government not to interject? This is a members statement.

The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order, Dr Cumming. We all know that there are no interjections accepted in this place from anybody.