Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — On 4 December I attended a public forum at the Werribee Secondary College co-hosted  by  the Committee for  Wyndham. Over 300  concerned parents and friends  attended  the  forum  but  there were no attendees from the state government, which is an issue of great  concern  to  my  community.  State government representatives  said they were unable to attend the public forum due to other  commitments. Neither of  the Liberal members  for Western Metropolitan Region in the Council, Andrew  Elsbury  and  Bernie  Finn,  nor the Minister for Education was in attendance.

The public forum, which was attended by some 300 concerned  parents and friends, is part of a growing pushback by advocacy group Committee  for Wyndham  to lobby the state government for $7 million to complete the long-awaited third and final stage of the college rebuild.

We have been told by  the minister that the needs  of the secondary college will only be considered as part of future  budget deliberations in the context of the needs of growing areas and new schools. This is a matter of grave concern, given that on 20 October 2010 in a pre-election commitment Mr Elsbury said:

 “It  is essential  that funding  be made available in the current round for the  Building Futures program”.

It is  four years  later, and  the school  has some  50 occupational  health and safety  problems. The allocation of $7 million for 19 classrooms and toilet  and locker provision would resolve a long overdue and outstanding issue.