I rise to talk about the desperate need for a new secondary school in my electorate. Parents in the city of Melton’s eastern corridor are pleading for more secondary school places to prevent their children’s schooling from being disrupted. Today I have submitted for consideration a petition with over 1000 signatures calling for the urgent establishment of a new secondary school in the Caroline Springs and Taylors Hill areas to cater for the unprecedented growth that has been further unleashed, with little resourcing for infrastructure, by this government.

Not one piece of land has been purchased or set aside for a new school in that area despite the fact that four different precinct plans, which are likely to deliver an additional 30 000 homes and which will bring about 78 000 new residents to the area, have now been released.

Not one piece of land has been committed for a school. The outer west requires ongoing commitment to infrastructure to keep up with growth, but this government’s answer has been to rip $900 million from the education budget. A further $30 million was ripped out of education by the federal Abbott government. It is evident that education is not a priority.

Many local residents have expressed their concerns to me about their anxiety as to how their children are facing uncertainty when they reach year 9. With insufficient secondary school places available, many students are facing an uncertain future.