Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the NSW Government have copped more flak over yesterday’s state budget, this time on education.
“Campbelltown is one of the fastest growing regions in the state, and yet the government couldn’t find a single dollar to upgrade our schools,’’ says local MP Greg Warren.
“The government knows about the backlog of maintenance issues, they know about overcrowding and the reliance in demountable classrooms, yet they’ve done nothing to address those issues in the Budget.’’
He says the budget papers reveal schools in Campbelltown will not receive a single dollar from the government’s so-called ‘unprecedented’ education infrastructure spending.
And Campbelltown schools have a combined maintenance backlog of almost $10 million, but not one dollar was allocated in the budget to deal with it.
Similarly, despite 36 demountable classrooms being in use at 10 different schools across the Campbelltown electorate, including 21 at Rosemeadow Public School, Thomas Reddall High School and Thomas Acres Public School, not a single dollar was allocated for the construction of new classrooms or new schools in Campbelltown.
The revelation comes after Premier Berejiklian said on June 19 that, in relation to the government’s spending on school infrastructure, “there won’t be a single community that misses out; every single community will be getting an upgrade or a new school”.
Campbelltown MP Greg Warren said the lack of funding was yet another example of the Berejiklian Government’s complete disregard for the people of Campbelltown.
“Whether it’s their deliberate deception about the promised upgrades to our hospital, or their failure to invest in our schools, it’s clear that services and infrastructure in Campbelltown aren’t even on the State Government’s radar,” he said.
