Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier this month I attended the Roma Mitchell Secondary College in the electorate of Makin, in the company of the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Bill Shorten, and the shadow minister for education and member for Adelaide, Kate Ellis—the member for an electorate which is very close to the Roma Mitchell Secondary College. The Roma Mitchell Secondary College is one of the new super schools created by the South Australian state government. It was opened a couple of years ago—I believe, in 2011. On the day, we were able to talk to staff at the school and to see classroom activities relating to vocational training in a whole range of different vocational skills: in IT classes; in science classes and also one of the school's activities which relate to sports development. It was a terrific day—to see firsthand what the new super school is doing and, more importantly, the different options which are available to the students at that school, bearing in mind that it is a school with families from a diverse range of family backgrounds, and very much a multicultural school. An important result of the day will be to ensure that those particular programs—which have been working so well under the leadership of the principal, Sandy Richardson—continue into the future. My fear is that they will not continue, as a result of the education cuts announced by the Abbott government in the budget earlier this month. I have real concerns that many of those good programs will not be able to be continued into the future.

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