Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just last Friday I was given the privilege of opening the new administration building and four classrooms at Sunrise Christian School in Whyalla. The expansion was helped by a $700,000 grant from the Capital Grants Program, but I make the point that the school community contributed two-thirds of the $2.1 million project. Congratulations to the principal and the team at Sunrise Christian College. They are providing a significantly good environment for kids to grow up and learn in. They started only 13 years ago with 36 students, and they now have over 300. Obviously, they have a lot of new facilities that have been assisted by the Commonwealth government along the way but the school community has also worked very hard for those facilities. They deliver schooling from reception to year 10, and whether or not they'll consider delivering the full secondary sphere I guess is yet to be determined. But they are certainly providing an opportunity in Whyalla that the public is looking for. I'm a great supporter of the public school system, but I'm also a great supporter of choice. And people are making choices for reasons: they like the stability, they like the religious ethic or they like the place that their children grow up and are nurtured in. Congratulations to Sunrise.