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 their new school will be ready continues to remain unanswered.
Speaking in Parliament today, Member for Western Victoria, Gayle Tierney has again raised the concerns of Torquay families after receiving numerous calls at her electorate office.
“To say that the school community in Torquay are frustrated with the Baillieu government’s lack of communication and information would be a gross understatement.
“As recent as yesterday, my office has received calls explaining that emails and phone calls that have been sent to the Member for South Barwon, Andrew Katos’ office on this issue remain unanswered.
“Some of these calls and emails date back to November last year.
“For Mr Katos and this Government to completely ignore these requests for information from parents is utterly disgraceful,” Ms Tierney said.
Prior to Christmas the Education Minister Martin Dixon stated that he would ensure he would keep the community informed yet it is clear that no information has been provided to date.
Ms Tierney stated in Parliament that for every day the government fails on its promise, major impacts are being felt at the Torquay P-9 campus.
“Because of staggered lunch and recess times students in PE classes are forced to share sporting grounds with students on their lunch and recess breaks.
“A set of portable classrooms were without air-conditioning for a month this year because of substandard power and computer data provision to four portables was not adequate enough to run the computers.
“To break a key election promise is one thing, but to continually ignore the entire community on the most important part of a child’s youth is unforgivable,” Ms Tierney said.