Wednesday, 18 February 2026

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:52): Victoria certainly is the education state, and that is evidenced furthermore by the rollout of 100 new schools, the last 19 of which have opened this year. Earlier this week I was thrilled to join with Mr Tarlamis and the member for Bass to attend the opening, with the Minister for Education, of two fantastic new schools in Clyde North – the fifth and sixth new schools just in the suburb of Clyde North that we have opened in this term of the Parliament, being Balambalam Primary School and Birranga College.

It was terrific to join the staff, student communities and parents for the opening of both of these two wonderful schools. I would like to particularly thank Danielle Heatley, the principal of Balambalam, and Nick Hamer-Smith, the principal of Birranga, for having us along. Balambalam is an Indigenous word meaning moth or butterfly, and the school has embraced that as part of its identity, having commissioned an authentic piece of artwork, Beautiful Butterfly, which they then used to sample off for their uniform and other designs around the school. It is a terrific school community already. To see these brand new schools already enlivened with such a positive culture has been wonderful to see.

It was also a very pleasant surprise for me to see my former Japanese teacher at Birranga College, apart from having to then give an example of my since deteriorated Japanese skills, which was very delightful. Also, when Mr K was asked if I was a good student, he said I was but only in year 7. We had terrific school openings at both of these new schools in Clyde North.