Liverpool councillor Nathan Hagarty has wished local students beginning their HSC today all the best while calling on better investment in education for South Western Sydney.
Returning to normal for the first time since the pandemic came on the scene, students tackled English in the first HSC exam for the class of 2022.
“Best of luck to all the students starting their HSC today. While this may seem like the most important few weeks of your life and the culmination of 13 long years of schooling, this is by no means the be all and all,’’ said the Labor leader on council.
“You might not have quite worked out yet what it is you want to do, but life has a funny way of panning out,’’ he said.
Cr Hagarty also took the opportunity to call for better funding and resourcing for public education in the region, especially in our rapidly growing suburbs.
“As a product of our public education system, and as someone whose children currently attend a local public school, I appreciate the value of investing in our public education system,” Cr Hagarty said.
“While our students in Western Sydney show year after year they are strong, resilient and amongst the best and brightest in the country, Perrottet Government neglect is consistently selling them short.
“The State Government has underinvested in public education for over a decade. We have chronic teacher shortages, classroom overcrowding and suburbs like Austral, Leppington and Edmondson Park still waiting for promised schools.
“To make matters worse, when the government is eventually dragged kicking and screaming to the table, they make the wrong decisions.
“They’re proposing a nine storey vertical high school in Edmondson Park, they’ve sold off land for a public high school in Austral and are funding schools based on politics rather than need.
“Our region’s young people have so much potential but South Western Sydney is constantly being sold short by this State Government.
“With the Airport and Aerotropolis on the way, we should be harnessing and cultivating that potential right now.
“We need new schools in our growth areas to be fast tracked, more investment in existing schools and decent pay and conditions for teachers,’’ Cr Hagarty said.
