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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-02 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Seaton High School Redevelopment

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:48): I move:

That the 62nd report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Seaton High School Redevelopment Project, be noted.

Mr Speaker, as you know, Seaton High School is situated in the western Adelaide metropolitan region and is located on Glenburnie Street in Seaton in the City of Charles Sturt. The Department for Education has advised that the student population has diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Seaton High School is expected to experience growth in student enrolment numbers. The school was allocated funding of $20 million as part of the Department for Education's capital works program. The proposed redevelopment of the high school will deliver a total school enrolment capacity of 1,200 student places by 2022 and that will of course include the transition of year 7 students into high school. The proposed redevelopment will also include the replacement of aged infrastructure at the school site and provide, as a consequence, more contemporary learning facilities.

When complete, the Seaton High School redevelopment project will provide a fully integrated secondary school facility, contemporary learning areas aligned with 21st century pedagogy, creative flexible learning spaces to enhance student engagement and allow for collaborative teaching practices, additional spaces to support expected enrolment growth—including the transition of year 7 students into high school, as mentioned earlier—and new and efficient facilities to replace the aged buildings that are extant on the school site. The Department for Education has advised that the works for the redevelopment will be staged, with construction anticipated to be complete by December 2021.

The committee examined written evidence in relation to this project and received assurances that the appropriate consultation in relation to this project had been undertaken, and the committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultation and meets the criteria for the examination of projects, which you would know are set out in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991. Having regard to the evidence considered, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the scope of the proposed public works.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (11:51): I thank the member for Kavel for bringing this report to the house from the Public Works Committee. The redevelopment of Seaton High School is an important project not just for the school but for the community of the western suburbs. Seaton High School is a school with a strong reputation in the western suburbs, let alone in my electorate. It is a school that has proudly continued on with the Students with High Intellectual Potential (SHIP) program, and that has attracted families to the high school from different parts of the western suburbs.

You may be aware that the school also hosts the very well-regarded baseball program in the western suburbs. It was my pleasure as the local member, and as a supporter of the Henley and West Lakes baseball team, to watch one of their matches, before the end of the season and before the coronavirus restrictions were put in place, to see one of their students walk out to bat and promptly smash the ball out of the park; in fact, I think it was even on the first pitch, which is pretty impressive for a high school student in an A-grade men's league match. Clearly, they are doing very well—not just that player but the program being delivered at Seaton High School.

As the report outlines, the $20 million was announced in 2017 as part of the $698 million commitment to upgrading and improving school infrastructure. It was gratefully received by the school's community, led by the principal, Richard Abell, and also the governing council. There are a number of buildings on the site of Seaton High School that are no longer fit for purpose. They are very old and need to be replaced. I remember being there with the former minister for education and now Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for Port Adelaide, and also the former member for Cheltenham, former premier Jay Weatherill, to announce the $20 million of funding.

We made that announcement in the library building at Seaton High School—a small, prefabricated low-ceiling building, unfortunately constructed in the era where it was common to use asbestos construction materials, which of course raises in itself the need to be replacing these sorts of buildings.

At the election of the new Liberal government, the priorities somewhat changed for the education capital works program. There was a change in focus away from the priorities as announced by the previous Labor government to focus initially on high school upgrades so as to accommodate the new policy of the Liberal government of accommodating year 7 into high schools. In itself, that should not have meant any change to Seaton High School and the $20 million that they were to receive.

In that regard, I am pleased to say that it did not change Seaton High School and their proposed receipt of $20 million for an upgrade, but it did do two things. It did delay the commencement of the upgrade at Seaton High School because the project had to be substantially rescoped to the point that, here we are, more than two years and approximately 27 or 28 months on from the election of the Liberal government before this project can be considered and approved by the Public Works Committee and also noted in this house.

It has changed the scope of the project so that a larger focus of the project is on the refurbishment of existing buildings rather than the demolition and construction of new education buildings. That is to ensure that the high school can accommodate year 7 students, rather than just provide new and fit-for-purpose facilities for the existing high school cohort of years 8 to 12. That has meant that there has had to be a shrinking of focus on replacement of existing buildings and an increased focus on refurbishing older buildings, unfortunately with some of the inefficiencies that some of those older buildings provide.

Aside from that, it is very welcome news for the community of Seaton High School that the $20 million will go on to be spent, hopefully to be delivered by December 2021, which will mean that no doubt I will have the pleasure, at the invitation of the education minister as the local member, of cutting the ribbon on that redevelopment. I look forward very much to that. Of course, it would be appropriate also for me to share those duties with the member for Kavel, given his role and responsibility of stewarding this project through the necessary formal approval processes.

Certainly, as a former transport minister, it was my pleasure to have a large ceremonial, chromed yet still sharp pair of scissors on hand for these sorts of duties.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: Did they get your name engraved on them?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, it did not have the name engraved on it. Just as we had for the ceremonial sod turning of the Torrens to Torrens project, where the now infamous photo was taken of the former premier Jay Weatherill, former prime minister Tony Abbott and former member for Mayo Jamie Briggs—it seems I escaped the kiss of death that that photo seems to have provided all of its participants—it was necessary to have not just one but in that case four chromed shovels. Unfortunately for me, the photo was taken at the point when I had already disgorged my chrome shovel of soil.

Mr Pederick: You went early.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I went early, as the member for Hammond said. It gave the appearance that I was not putting my back into it in the same manner that the other three photograph participants were.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: A rookie error.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: A rookie mistake, as someone who spent a lot of time with the former minister for transport and infrastructure would say. I learnt my lesson, and so I made sure that I timed my subsequent efforts on other projects, like the Northern Connector, the O-Bahn City Access Project and the Torrens junction project well.

However, it is regrettable to say that I will not have the same pleasure for the other announced projects that were part of the former Labor government's $698 million contribution to education capital upgrade projects. I am speaking specifically of the $6 million allocated to the Grange Primary School because in that regard that money had to be delayed so that high school projects could be brought forward by the Liberal government for their year 7 programs. I think that is also the case for the $5 million that was allocated to the West Lakes Shore primary school upgrade project. My poor timing aside, I support the noting of this report.

Debate adjourned.

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