Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (21:06): (2357) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education. The action that I seek is for the minister to commit full funding in the 2026–27 state budget to complete the redevelopment of buildings and facilities at the new campus of Banmira Specialist School. Banmira Specialist School plays a unique role in the educational landscape in Shepparton, serving students from the age of three to 18 who have intellectual disabilities and special needs. Stability and predictability are particularly important to these children. They learn best when they have regular routines and are familiar with their surroundings. That is why it is so vitally important that the new campus of Banmira is fully redeveloped as soon as possible so that students from all year levels can be together on the one campus.

Currently the school is operating over two campuses, with the primary schoolchildren at the new campus and senior grades at the old campus on Verney Road. I recently met with acting principal Jesse Whittaker and school council president Di Stevens, who showed me how well the young students were doing in their bright new classrooms. But I am concerned about students who last year moved from the Verney Road campus to the new campus as primary students and who have now had to return to the old campus this year. This was a big disruption to their learning environment and has significantly impacted these students. The change of campus has also separated numerous students who had established friendships across grades. It is hard to overstate how troubling it is for these vulnerable students to have their relationships disrupted. During my visit to the school the school was dealing with a child who was severely emotionally distressed due to his peer group being at the other campus. Sadly, this child was not able to complete the school day.

These students require stability in their school life, and the school is now bussing students from one campus to another to help those kids keep friendships alive. But this is a costly and inefficient short-term solution. The split between campuses also places additional pressure on some parents who have children at both campuses, creating two locations for drop-off and pick-up. The Victorian government provided $23 million for stage 1 of the school’s redevelopment back in 2022–23, but that was four years ago. Since then the school has been left half-finished with ugly fencing and boarded-up, unused classrooms. Stage 2 of the redevelopment is estimated to cost around $30 million.

It is time the Labor government prioritised special needs students and completed the school. I have repeatedly called for funding to finish Banmira, and each time the Minister for Education has replied to say that when making funding decisions the government uses all available information, including assessments, enrolment projections and pre-existing project plans. I ask the minister to take into consideration the educational and personal costs.