Wollongong MP, Paul Scully has requested the NSW Government provide a list of local schools which will benefit from the extra $60 million maintenance funding announced last week.
Mr Scully told Parliament last night during a Private Members Statement that despite the announcement of extra funding for school maintenance, no list of schools that would benefit from the additional funding had been released yet.
According to NSW Government figures, 2100 school across New South Wales would be allocated a share of the extra $60 million.
Mr Scully’s speech raised three local schools in his electorate – Towradgi Public, Warrawong Public and Farmborough Road Public – as examples of the maintenance backlog, which on current funding projections would take 22, 21 and 19 years to tackle.
Mr Scully told the Parliament that the Government’s mismanagement of Sydney-based infrastructure projects which have blown out by more than $13 billion is the reason why so many projects in the Illawarra are being denied funding.
Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:
“The Government must immediately release a list of local schools that will benefit from the extra maintenance funding announced last week.
“It’s been a week since the Government announced additional funding yet we still don’t know if local schools will get some much needed maintenance money or not.
“Three local schools in my electorate face maintenance backlogs of 22, 21 and 19 years on current funding projections and the total backlog for my electorate now tops $10 million.
“If we want to provide school students with a 21st century education, they must be able to learn in school facilities that are not crumbling around them.
“Wollongong schools need a fair share of these funds and they need it now.”
