Hurlstone High noon: Mayor to hold fire until he has all the facts

Campbelltown mayor Paul Hawker says he is disappointed with the State Government and its decision on Hurlstone Agricultural High School.

But until he sits down with the bureaucrats of the NSW Department of Education and listens to what they have to say, Cr Hawker says he will not join the rush to blast the government.

Asked if he supports the government’s decision on Hurlstone, Cr Hawker says he was surprised by it.

He admits he was disappointed there was no consultation with Campbelltown City Council, especially given its newly won Regional City status.

“I was disappointed I received a phone call to let me know a press release  was coming,’’ says Cr Hawker, a Liberal Party councillor.

“But I will not stand being accused of going soft on having quality education in Campbelltown,’’ he says, in response to criticisms of his response so far to the government announcement Hurlstone would be gone by 2020 and replaced by a new as yet unnamed selective high school.

Much of the land will be sold off for housing, which would also result in the loss of the last major green buffer between the edge of the metropolitan area and the rural ambience of Campbelltown.

“We have plenty of very good selective  and private schools here in Campbelltown, like Mt Carmel, Campbelltown Performing Arts and Macquarie Fields and others,’’ he says.

As a Liberal Party councillor Mayor Hawker concedes he is in a Catch-22 situation with a State Liberal Government in office.

But he says that he will not hold back, depending on what the bureaucrats tell him at the meeting on December 11.

[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“I will listen first, as one should, to find out exactly what the plan is, and then I will be making comments,’’ he tells the South West Voice.[/social_quote]

“At the moment I am not really sure what the government want to do and saw this week that a war memorial forest dedicated to Hursltone students who lost their lives in war may be also be affected,’’ Cr Hawker says.

“So there’s things we may not know and that’s why I am keen to hear all the details from the department.’’

One thing he says is obviously wrong is taking the name Hurlstone out of Campbelltown after almost a century.

“That’s one of the things I will be raising at the meeting,’’ he says.

“But until then I won’t be joining the stampede to blast the decision on Hurlstone Agricultural High School.’’

Cr Hawker says one of the things he was disappointed when he saw the press release from the minister was that it painted the sale of the land as part of the railway corridor strategy, which had just gone on exhibition.

“I knew straight away that was wrong, that it was not part of the railway corridor strategy that the council and State Government had been talking about for quite a while.

“So that was disappointing, to see that in the press release.’’