Tuesday, 7 June 2022

St Michael’s School, Ashburton

Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (19:30): (1957) My adjournment tonight is for the attention of the Minister for Education, and it concerns St Michael’s primary school on High Street, Ashburton. I visited the school last week with the Shadow Minister for Education, David Hodgett, and Asher Judah, who is the Liberal Party’s candidate in the new seat of Ashwood. We met with the acting principal, Anita Dell’Orso, and a number of other key staff.

Look, St Michael’s is a great school, a school that people would have enormous support for. It has got a very vibrant culture and strong academic focus, but its facilities leave quite a lot to be desired. We saw in one particular block very significantly dilapidated carpets, vermin and, concerningly, mould on the ceilings. I understand the way funding is arranged. Most of the funding goes through the Catholic education office, and I understand that mechanism. But nonetheless state government money for capital works is available, and I think that this is a very meritorious case. I think that this is a case where on health grounds and on good sense grounds there ought to be a state allocation to support St Michael’s primary school and to ensure that it is actually brought up to the standard that I think most of us would expect. Now, David Hodgett sees a lot of schools. He has seen a lot of schools with me over the recent period, and he has got a very good sense of this, but he also was quite surprised. I know that Asher Judah will be working very hard to ensure that there is a just outcome here with St Michael’s primary school.

So I would seek from the Minister for Education an early response on this—an early response with a capital injection that would deal with the particular block that is dilapidated, where the quality of the roof is not up to scratch and where indeed there is some mould on the ceilings. I do not think that is good enough in this day and age. We cannot have a system where only one part of the system is supported adequately. I strongly support public schools, but I also believe there are a number of private schools that need government support in this way. This is an important school in High Street, Ashburton, St Michael’s primary, and I ask the Minister for Education to ensure that this school is immediately given the upgrade that it needs to ensure that it is safe and of a modern standard.