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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-10-15 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Bordertown High School

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:24): My question is to Minister for Education. When will the government make needed disability upgrades to Bordertown High School? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: The school has been advocating for improvements since the beginning of the year, when a student in a wheelchair was enrolled. Staff are being forced to carry a heavy portable ramp around so that the student can access classrooms and buildings. The disability bathroom/change room is also inadequate.

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (14:24): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question and his advocacy for Bordertown High School, which is a school I had the pleasure of visiting towards the end of last year, when we had country cabinet down that way. I went along and had a tour of the school and met with the principal, Alicia, and the deputy principal, Lauren. I met some of the students there as well, who I have to say are doing some pretty impressive work there. It was made very clear to me then, as it has been in this question today from the member for MacKillop, about the inadequate disability resources that are provided at Bordertown High School.

I don't think it will come as a surprise to people in this place that it has been and, in some places, continues to be a struggle for us to have the same high-quality provision of access to disability services in our school settings in all places in the state, particularly in rural, regional and remote parts of South Australia, where sometimes we haven't traditionally had the infrastructure there, where sometimes, because of lower population numbers, the number of students who are seeking that kind of education and care aren't as high as they might be in metropolitan areas, which of course can make it a bit more complicated in the delivery as well.

But none of those things is an excuse for us not fixing it. I made the commitment to Lauren and Alicia at Bordertown on that day, just like the commitment we made in the same country cabinet, when the principal at Naracoorte got up and asked a very similar question around the need to improve access to disability services on site at schools for students in country areas. I said that we are committed to fixing it. I acknowledge it has been slower to occur than it should have at Bordertown. The situation described by the member for MacKillop of a student carting a ramp around is not acceptable.

But I do have an update for the member for MacKillop, which I think and hope will be welcomed. It is that the significant works that we are going to be undertaking at the school to make sure the scenario described by the member is a thing of the past is now out to tender. We anticipate that, once that tender is complete and a builder is chosen through that process, those upgrades will commence in the coming school holiday period, which is not too far away given we have just started term 4. We have decided to do it across the break between the 2024 and 2025 school years so there is the least amount of disruption to classes as we can possibly ensure.

I can tell the member that these major upgrades will mean that all those kinds of facilities and infrastructure that are needed that aren't there now will be provided to make sure that what Bordertown can provide for students who have a disability who are at the school now is what you would expect no matter where you went to school in South Australia and that exactly the same will be able to be said for future generations of young people who will go to Bordertown High School as well.

I really appreciate the member's advocacy on issues around disability at schools in his area. I am quite frank about this: we haven't been as fast as I think we needed to be in terms of upgrading these kinds of facilities. We are thankfully in a day and age now where those regional communities particularly are putting their hand up and saying, 'We are not going to accept or tolerate this anymore,' and I agree with them. But I am also pleased that the department is prioritising these works through the infrastructure budget that it has, so when we go out there and talk about our schools being high-class and consistently accessible no matter where you choose to go to school, we can actually say that with our hand on our heart.

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