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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-10-28 Daily Xml
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Beachport Integrated Education and Care Facility Plan

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for Education. Will the government fund a new integrated primary school, preschool and early learning centre at Beachport? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: The Beachport Governing Council and Childcare Working Group have developed concept plans for a $7.2 million integrated education and care facility. This will address urgent infrastructure issues and ensure equitable access to early learning opportunities in and around Beachport.

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills, Minister for Police) (14:22): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question and his continued interest in Beachport Primary School and the communities who live in Beachport and making sure that they have access to not only world-class education but also opportunities in the early years as well. I think I have fielded some questions from the member for MacKillop on this topic before.

I have taken the time to visit Beachport and see the school myself, and I think I have been pretty frank in my assessment of the infrastructure there. It needs work; there is no doubt about that. Since that visit that I made, some work has been done to try to fix some of the issues. I am not suggesting that is everything that needs to be done at that site, because truth be told it probably needs a lot more attention, but the list of schools in that department is fairly long given that our stock is ageing.

I do appreciate, however, the interest and advocacy on this topic not just from the member for MacKillop but also from the school community as well. They are a very, very active governing council which I think is fantastic. Although it doesn't make life any easier for the education minister, I think every school deserves to have a governing council which is willing to go out on the front foot and advocate for new facilities and more funding for their school. That is certainly what is happening in Beachport, and that includes the plan that the member for MacKillop refers to here around long-term planning for a preschool and an upgraded primary school as well.

I can tell the member it is something that we are looking at. I don't have a commitment I can make to the member. You have my continued acknowledgement, having been to the site myself, that it is a school that needs further investment, but it is not the only school that falls in that category. I am pleased that there are some things we have been able to do since it has been raised and since I visited the school, and we will continue to look at whether or not we can do any more long-term upgrades there.

Of course, given that we are starting the rollout of our three-year-old preschool commitment from the start of next year, we are very attuned to making sure that the opportunity to get access to a second year of teacher-led play-based learning in South Australia is something that is not just available to people who live in metropolitan parts of our state but to people who live in regional parts of our state as well, and that includes Beachport.

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