James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very excited to inform the House of the public school building boom that's going on in my electorate of Sturt as we speak. In particular, I congratulate my good friend the Hon. John Gardner, the Minister for Education and a local member from my same neck of the woods, who announced in the state budget on Tuesday that a new school will be built in my electorate at old the Rostrevor Norwood Morialta campus. They've committed $84.4 million towards this new school, and we need it because our population is booming in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide. Of course that is driving a firm demand for more student space, and this is going to dramatically alleviate the potential overcrowding we could have had in my area if this decision weren't made. So I commend the government for that.

Almost every secondary school in my electorate is undergoing some form of upgrade at the moment. Recently I visited Glenunga International High School and the Norwood Morialta Parade Magill campus. Both are having significant upgrades undertaken. Of course, I was at the Avenue College in Windsor Gardens just a few weeks ago. They're all having building works done. The state government made the very sensible decision to transition year 7 into high school in South Australia. We were the last state that didn't, for some reason, have year 7 in the secondary system. That's necessitated a significant $1.3 billion building program across the state, and my electorate is benefitting from that.

But this new announcement really is the icing of the cake, because it means that we're going get a brand-new school. It will be a new build on that campus on St Bernards Road in Rostrevor for years 7 to 12. This complements the other upgrades that are being undertaken at nearby the Norwood Morialta Magill campus. It means that the families of the eastern suburbs of Adelaide are going to be very well served for their secondary education needs. The primary schools are also having capital upgrades undertaken throughout my electorate.

We're very lucky in the eastern and north-eastern suburbs to have this building program undertaken, because educating our next generation is one of the most important roles that we have as governments, both state and federal. Of course, there are federal funds going into some of these projects, but most importantly we have a state government that understands the educational needs of all South Australians. Obviously I'm particularly interested in what they're doing in my electorate of Sturt.

I commend this new school. I'm very excited about it. I look forward to being on site for many of the milestones from the first sod turning through to, hopefully, the opening of the school in a few years time. It'll serve my electorate extremely well. Again, I congratulate the state government for this very significant investment decision in local schools in my electorate.