[dbaust] Residents oppose TAFE sale
- From: "P Tarrant" <tarrp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 20:01:08 +1000
Residents oppose TAFE sale
Reid Sexton
July 2, 2012
a..
THE Baillieu government is facing calls to halt the multimillion-dollar sale
of a TAFE site near Richmond and instead use it to establish a boys' high
school.
The large block that houses the Kangan Institute in Cremorne was put on the
market late last month after training at the site was transferred to a new
centre in Docklands.
Local residents say the site would be ideal for a badly needed boys' high
school in the area, while local MP Richard Wynne said the sale showed the
government ranked privatisation above helping local communities.
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He said the government was ignoring a shift in demographic trends that
showed families were increasingly settling in the inner city.
However, the government has said the sale will proceed because a high school
is not needed in the area.
Richmond High School was closed in 1992 by the Kennett government as part of
its massive cuts to public services to fix Victoria's tattered economy.
The site was used to establish Melbourne Girls College in 1994, meaning
Richmond families send their boys to suburbs such as Camberwell or Kew to
educate them in a government secondary school.
The education facilities already at the Kangan site, which is expected to
fetch about $8 million for the government, and public transport
accessibility mean residents say it is an obvious choice for a new school.
Cremorne resident Alexandra Davine, who has a twin eight-year-old son and
daughter, said Collingwood College was an option but traffic congestion made
it difficult for local families to get to. She said she would like her
children to attend the same school but this was unlikely because her
daughter would probably go to Melbourne Girls College.
She said the local population was booming but the government was selling a
potentially excellent school site.
''A government education should be available to all, in reasonable proximity
to their homes and be safe to get to.''
The population of the Richmond, Cremorne and Burnley area grew by more than
6 per cent to 26,000 in the five years to 2011.
Justin Naylor from the Richmond High School Choices action group said there
was increasing pressure on the government to deliver a new school. He said
the government must conduct an independent study to ensure the Kangan site
would not be an appropriate site for a new school before selling off a
public asset that it may have to replace in the near future.
A spokesman for Education Minister Martin Dixon said future enrolment
predictions for the Richmond area showed a new secondary school was not
needed, but growth in the area would be monitored.
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