After 15 months of complete and utter debacle by the Baillieu government on the new Torquay secondary school, the Torquay community’s question of when its new school will be ready remains unanswered. To say that the school community in Torquay is frustrated with the Baillieu government’s lack of communication and information would be a gross understatement.
As recently as yesterday my office received calls complaining that email and phone calls to the office of Andrew Katos, the member for South Barwon in the Assembly on this issue remain unanswered. Some of these calls and emails date back to November last year. Parents have received no updates from the department or the minister’s office. For Mr Katos and this government to completely ignore these requests for information from parents is utterly disgraceful.
This is after Mr Katos stated last year that this was his no. 1 priority and after the minister stated that he would ensure that he kept the community informed. It is clear that no information is being provided.
For every day that the government fails to fulfil its promise, major impacts are being felt on the campus. Because of the staggered lunch and recess times, students in physical education classes are forced to share sporting grounds with students on their lunch and recess breaks. With 23 portable classrooms on site, space is at a premium. Because of substandard power, a set of portable classrooms was without air conditioning for one month this year. To break a key election promise is one thing, but to continually ignore the entire community and disrupt the lives of so many Torquay schoolchildren is unforgivable.
