Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to mention a number of important events that have recently taken place in my electorate of Greenway regarding a topic close to my heart, that of education. These include the Norwest Christian College's Building the Education Revolution recognition ceremony, the New South Wales Education Week at Metella Road Public School in Toongabbie and the Gonski review into school education funding.

On 26 July, I had the absolute privilege of officially opening the brand-new BER facilities at Norwest Christian College in Riverstone, along with the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer. It was fantastic to visit the students in their $2.15 million refurbished multipurpose hall and classrooms and to take part in a mock debate with the students, a debate that rivalled the quality of some of the performances we have seen in this place. It was a great pleasure to participate in their youth parliament and a question-and-answer session. The topic that we debated was 'Should homework be banned?' I was in the affirmative; the Treasurer was in the negative. Rather than saying who won and who lost that debate, I would just like to say that it was a tremendous exercise in democracy and it was so great to see the confidence and the intelligence of the students who were there. They were absolutely impressive and a great credit to their school.

The BER program has seen over $60 million invested in schools in my electorate, investments that have built new language centres, science labs, computer labs, school halls and classrooms. These investments have been welcomed in my electorate, and these developments would not have been possible without the injection of funding from the federal government. As the Blacktown Advocate reported:

Norwest Christian College principal Ian Maynard said without government help, it would have been impossible to build the new classrooms.

"This BER money turned our tired 20th century classrooms into vibrant 21st century learning spaces," he said.

"The previous classrooms were like little boxes."

It is a tremendous development for Norwest Christian College. I would like to thank Principal Ian Maynard and the staff for hosting the Deputy Prime Minister and me and for putting on an excellent day. I would also like to quote from a lovely letter that was in my local newspaper from a student named Alysen, who said:

it was an amazing day i enjoyed it very much and i am proud to be at this school i am a girl in year six and I love it. i loved meeting these people and especially meeting ms rowland and mr swan it was the most best experience that a school could ever have …

It was the 'most best experience' to meet you as well, Alysen.

I would also like to mention the beautiful pictures in the photo gallery from Rouse Hill Times photographer, Isabella Lettini, which had around 4,000 online hits, which I understand is something of a record in Blacktown's local newspapers.

On Wednesday, 1 August I joined Metella Road Public School in Toongabbie in my electorate to celebrate New South Wales Education Week. Students put on a number of fantastic performances—again, in their brand-new BER multipurpose hall, which I will be officially opening later this year. It was great to see so many parents and family members present to join in the celebrations. Metella Road Public School is a big school, and it is also a very culturally diverse school. It has very strong teacher and parent support and input.

I would like to thank new Principal Peter D'ermilio for his hospitality and wish him well in his role at the school. Peter was previously the principal of Riverstone Public School. A fine principal he was there, and I am sure he will do an equally fine job at Metella Road Public School. He is a great leader. Riverstone Public School's loss is indeed Metella Road Public School's gain.

Lastly, I would like to mention the Gonski review into school funding. With around 10 per cent of the population in Greenway aged between nought and four years of age, as I have said on a number of occasions, it really does make Greenway Australia's nursery, and this has been confirmed by recent census results. As well as being an extremely young electorate, Greenway is home to 59 schools, making education a top priority for many of my constituents and, of course, me.

In 2010 the government commissioned a review into the way schools are funded. The review, led by businessman David Gonski, found that schools with similar needs often end up with different amounts of government funding. It said the government needs to make sure additional investment gets to the schools and students who need it, do more to get great teachers into our schools and keep improving our education performance. I visited a number of schools in my electorate to show that 'I give a Gonski', including Blacktown Girls High School and Blacktown Boys High School, where I discussed the Gonski recommendations and noted the strong support from the Greenway community for these initiatives.

I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to public education and to express my 100 per cent support for the Gonski recommendations into school funding.