School plan is up the Creek
ALMOST two years after announcing funds to build a new primary school in Armstrong Creek, the State Government hasn’t even acquired land, an Opposition MP claims.
In May 2016, Western Victoria state Labor MP Gayle Tierney announced the Gov- ernment had allocated funds to acquire land to build a new primary school in Armstrong Creek West, through the 2016/17 State Budget.
“It’s clear this community needs a school. We made a commitment to local residents to build one, and we’re delivering,” Ms Tierney said at the time.
Ms Tierney also told the Surf Coast Times the school was expected to be opened in 18 months.
South Barwon state Liberal MP Andrew Katos hit out at Ms Tierney’s “broken promise”, claiming the State Government had not only failed to open the school, it hadn’t even purchased land to do so.
“They made it unequivocally clear that they not only funded the purchase of the land, but Gayle Tierney’s own comments were that she expected the school to be operational in about 18 months of the Budget last year, and 18 months is now, so where’s the school?
“We don’t have the land acquired yet, let alone the funding to construct the school, so this is a clear broken promise to this community of Armstrong Creek, one of the largest growth areas in Victoria.”
Ms Tierney’s office and the State Government did not respond to the Geelong Advertiser’s questions yesterday.
The State Government’s Victorian School Building Authority website this week still listed the project status as “land acquisition”.
Opposition education spokesman Tim Smith also slammed the lack of action.
“It’s black and white, they said they’d do it 18 months ago and they haven’t done it,” Mr Smith said. “This is a school that was promised by the Labor Party. I would have thought, in a growth zone such as this, you wouldn’t be wasting too much time.”