Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about Somerville Secondary College. Somerville Secondary College was established this year; it is a subcampus of Mount Erin Secondary College. I want to take this opportunity, following the recent formal opening of the college, which began its work and opened its doors at the beginning of the school year, to give my thanks and congratulations to all of those involved in the creation of this new school for Somerville.

I want to note at the outset, though, that this is the beginning, not the end, because at present there is a grave risk that the school will never be equipped with a year 11 and 12 capacity. There is also a risk that it will not have the full and adequate grounds needed for the next 30, 50, 100 years. So I want to lay the foundations for the next phase in the campaign at Somerville Secondary College. I will do more of that in a moment.

My first key point here is to congratulate all of those people involved in the establishment of the Somerville campus at Mount Erin Secondary College—or, as it is known in shorthand, Somerville Secondary College. People such as Bruce Buchan, Phil Brake and Fiona Prentice, along with many others, had a long-term commitment to the creation of this school. The land was for sale—I readily concede, under the previous state government and under the current state government—and four years ago we, along with those people, waged an unremitting and unrelenting campaign to ensure that the land was not sold and, secondly, to ensure that a school would be built. One of the critical elements was the work of the Parliamentary Library at the federal level, which helped with the demographics to show how many children would come on stream in Somerville and surrounding districts. That work was carried forward by the people I have mentioned—Bruce Buchan, Phil Brake and Fiona Prentice—and so many others. It was used as part of a campaign to demonstrate the need and as a way of delivering the result. That result has manifested itself in a wonderful school, and I pay tribute to all of those involved in the design and construction of the school.

This brings me to my second major point in going forward. The task now is to commit to the establishment of a year 11 and 12 facility. There are strong rumours that such a facility will never be built. The shortage of space which the school faces need not be a barrier. There is land adjacent to the school, which the owners have kindly offered to the Victorian education department. I urge the Victorian minister for education, Lynne Kosky, to take up that offer. I commit to working towards a year 11 and 12 facility and full ovals, and I urge everybody else to do that.

See this speech in context