Wednesday, 7 February 2024

 Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (09:50): Normally as a teacher I would be back in a classroom this time of year. Out in the western suburbs we love our families, so not surprisingly we are growing fast. Indeed Wyndham and Melton have the highest 10-year average population growth in the entire state of Victoria. It does not take a genius to know that lots of growth requires lots of school placements, which require school buildings and teachers, and teachers need training and support. So why is it that in the west we do not have enough schools, and the ones we have are so overcrowded? Wyndham council has over 1000 enrolled students per government school, which is more than double the average across the state. On average they have around half the number of primary schools compared to greater Melbourne. So I just find myself wondering: why does the west always get less under Labor? They have been in power in Victoria for about 20 of the last 24 years, and we keep hearing them bragging about their education record. In fact at one point they even changed our numberplates to ‘The Education State’. In reality, Victoria has the most expensive public school education in Australia. We are straining under a teacher shortage so severe that teacher qualifications are now being lowered, and the decline in academic standards and the increase in student anxiety has families across this state, especially in my western suburbs region, devastated. Sadly, Victoria can no longer claim to be the Education State, but only an education in what not to do when planning for education as a government.