Whyalla High Schools Amalgamation

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:00): Supplementary: given that the minister referred to the disposal of the land of the existing high school sites, does the $100 million promise include the price of any land sale there, or is the $100 million that has been allocated independent of the sale of that land?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (15:01): My recollection is that we are talking about a PPP, so that's about the way in which we pay for occupying the site in the future. The disposal of the land is not about getting money back for the education system primarily. What it's about is making sure that Whyalla as a city doesn't have empty wastelands.

What we need to do is work with the community and work with the local government so that we use that land and those buildings in the best way possible. That might be different for each of the three sites, of course. We just want to make sure that Whyalla, in its sensitive time, as it's coming into its new era—it's a very exciting era for Whyalla—that the high school work is constructive and doesn't cause any concern about abandoned sites.