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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-13 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Naracoorte High School Redevelopment

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:29): I move:

That the 105th report of the Public Works Committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Naracoorte High School Redevelopment Project, be noted.

Naracoorte High School, located in the Naracoorte Lucindale Council, requires redevelopment works to accommodate the transition of year 7 students to high school in 2022. There is also aged accommodation at the school site that requires demolition and replacement with up-to-date facilities. Having regard to February 2020 verified census data, Naracoorte High School had 360 student enrolments, and the proposed high school redevelopment project, when complete, will be delivering a total school enrolment capacity of 550 students for 2022.

The Naracoorte High School redevelopment project is expected to deliver refurbishment of the existing art and design building to provide additional facilities, refurbishment of the home economics building, construction of a new physical education and agriculture learning centre (providing change rooms, amenities and covered outdoor learning areas), construction of a new change room and additional amenities and demolition of six older buildings. The estimated capital cost of the redevelopment project is $5 million, and the project is expected to be staged, with construction anticipated to be complete by later this year.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project and received assurances that the appropriate consultation for the project had been undertaken. The committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultations and does meet the criteria for the examination of projects, which is described, as you know, Mr Speaker, in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991.

Based on the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it enthusiastically recommends the proposed public works that I have now described to you.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (11:31): I rise to briefly speak on the work that is going on in the Public Works Committee's report on the Naracoorte High School redevelopment, a $5.2 million project. It is a school which is doing some very high-quality teaching and learning, led by principal John Harris. I thank the principal and his educators, his team, teachers, SSOs and all the other workforce at Naracoorte High School for that work. As a result of this project, that work will be supported through improved buildings.

It is a school that currently has an enrolment of 368, or thereabouts, and after this redevelopment its capacity will be 800. It is certainly significant capacity to support the introduction of year 7s into high school and to deal with any population growth that may be the case. It is on track for a completion date in October, certainly well in time for the introduction of year 7 to high school next year. I congratulate Brown Falconer, the architects, and the builders on the work they are doing at the school.

We will see a refurbishment of a building providing art and design facilities, including three general learning areas, two outdoor learning areas, amenities and various ancillary spaces. We will also see the construction of new sports change rooms, an agriculture learning space, the construction of a new change and amenities block adjacent to the art and design refurbishment, the refurbishment of existing home economics facilities and some demolition of ageing infrastructure.

I can report to the house that the local MP for MacKillop, Mr Nick McBride, has been working very hard on the school's behalf, as he does with all his schools, to always make sure that he is encouraging the department to deliver as best value for money as we can so that this school gets a quality refurbishment, a quality outcome, to assist the teaching and learning spaces that are being supported. Supporting country education is a strong and important commitment of this government.

The Naracoorte High School build is part of a $1.3 billion program of works around South Australia. That includes nearly $400 million being spent on the construction of four new schools at Angle Vale, Aldinga, Goolwa and Whyalla. That is a very substantial commitment. In addition to that, 30 regional schools around South Australia are also being supported, with expansions, refurbishments, redevelopments and new facilities, at cost of a further $220 million plus.

It is a commitment that we have to both supporting year 7 into high school and to supporting the population growth that is particularly noticeable in certain areas and, where we can, to updating and supporting the redevelopment of older facilities. There is always more to do, and we will continue to do that work, supporting kids in the city and in the country, supporting kids in every town, every suburb and every part of this state to receive world-class facilities for a world-class education. There is always more to do, but this Naracoorte High School build is a significant part of that work, and I cannot wait to see the finished redevelopment. I cannot wait to see what these students achieve in the years ahead.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (11:35): I rise to support the 105th report of the Public Works Committee, entitled Naracoorte High School Redevelopment Project. Naracoorte is one of my two major towns in MacKillop, the other town being Millicent. Both these towns have high schools. Naracoorte is in the fortunate position of being in the centre of my region and it represents a really important hub, to not only the Limestone Coast but certainly MacKillop.

In the education system there, we have two public primary schools, an independent primary school and one major high school. The high school has to battle competition from Mount Gambier to attract students, but I want to see the education systems in all our schools flourish. This development that is taking place is a really great meaningful development in the sense that, yes, some of the infrastructure in my schools is probably past its use-by date—that is right across my region—and my high schools are certainly all part of that criterion. Any upgrade that we are seeing with this development is very much welcomed by teachers, by students and by families associated with the schools in my region.

The $5 million build fits with what we are trying to do as a government, bringing year 7 into the high school curriculum. It will be welcome. It will obviously add to our numbers. It is really welcome to see that our numbers, which are sitting around 360 now, are forecast to increase and that we will have a development that will cater for 550. On the flipside, we are seeing some of my other, smaller primary schools suffer from the loss of their year 7s. On one side of the equation we are seeing a loss of students and on the other side we are seeing an increased number of students into the high school arena and area school as well.

With this development, we are looking at new learning centres and additional areas in art and design as well as agriculture. These are certainly major, important subjects for my region, given that we are an agricultural sector. We have a shortage of employees, and there is a waiting list, and perhaps a wish list, to entice and attract more people into our regions. These sorts of developments have a twofold effect: one is that we want curriculum that actually educates our children that agriculture does have a future, a prosperous future, and the second is that we want to attract people into our regions, and families will be attracted if there is good infrastructure in the way of schools, hospitals and the like.

These sorts of developments are very important and very much appreciated. It is expected to be finished later this year, between September and December. It will be very much welcomed when it is all completed. I do note that this will be our second project on this school. I am very much appreciative of the minister and his support in this area. I have brought him to my region and we have visited a number of schools. I have 27 schools in my electorate, and I have not been able to get the minister across to all of them, but we are going to endeavour that in the—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: It's just a matter of time.

Mr McBRIDE: It's a matter of time, and we are already planning our next trips.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: Glencoe Central is the best one.

Mr McBRIDE: We do know about Glencoe as well, and it is a very important region. There is a beautiful primary school there with 200 students.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr McBRIDE: My schools are very important to my region. They are very well respected. The teachers, the students and the population generally get right behind these schools. This build is not an exception to that. I am very much looking to see that Naracoorte High is competitive, offering a great number of choices, attracting students to it, attracting families and growing, more importantly, what might be a really important regional hub in Naracoorte. I support the 105th report of the Public Works Committee.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (11:39): I rise briefly to say that this is a great thing for the people of Naracoorte. As someone who grew up in the South-East, I know how important it is to have really good educational facilities. Naracoorte High has always produced great students who have then gone on to do really great things in our state. In fact, three of my closest mates all went to Naracoorte High: John Ferguson, Anne-Maree Ferguson and Craig Hole. You could not meet three better people. In fact, John and Anne-Maree's mum worked there for decades in the front office. Every time I run into someone from Naracoorte I say, 'Do you know Noelene Ferguson?' and they say, 'Mrs Ferguson was the nicest person at our school.'

Schools do need these million-dollar injections, but it gets back to the calibre of the staff and the calibre of the students as well. I congratulate everyone who is involved in this and I know the people of Naracoorte will really appreciate it.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:40): I thank and acknowledge the minister and the member for Mawson for their contributions and also the member for MacKillop, who is a dedicated, passionate and determined local member and a very strong advocate for this and other school projects right throughout his community. He has rightly identified that the school is an essential part of his local community and, of course, a very significant part of Naracoorte. He should be particularly proud that this project is coming to completion and we are very grateful for his advocacy in ensuring that it has reached this point.

Motion carried.

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