MOOROODUC Primary School appears to be the sole beneficiary of any direct grant from this month’s state budget.
The school’s allocated $1 million will be spent on offices and classrooms.
Nepean MP Martin Dixon says the needs of other schools on the Mornington Peninsula have been ignored.
“Much needed school upgrades have also been shelved across the peninsula with asbestos related issues being a major concern,” Mr Dixon, Education Minister in the former Coalition government, said.
“The last Labor government sat on known asbestos in schools for 11 years and while talking big, are delivering small.
“Red Hill Consolidated School is long overdue for a major maintenance upgrade.
“While the Coalition [in its election campaign] committed $1.3 million for these works, parents and students have again been ignored by a Labor government and this is a pattern played out within all Liberal held seats.”
Mr Dixon said the story was the same for the PenBus service which he said “gives trainees and job seekers access 39 various training providers and educational institutions from Frankston to the CBD”.
“PenBus has been funded as a trial service for over two years by the federal government in conjunction with the Mornington Peninsula Shire but will close if the state government fails to incorporate the service into the Public Transport Victoria (PTV) network,” he said.
“I have written to the minister to ask for PenBus to be continued and I am still committed to working with the shire as well as government MPs in the hope that common sense can prevail to ensure this service continues.”
Mr Dixon said the Labor government was claiming credit for works at Rosebud Hospital and pier which were “instigated by the Coalition government”.
Mornington MP David Morris asked the media to ignore a media release criticising the government for not honouring “their promise of $1,000,000 for Moorooduc Primary School”.
“Please disregard this media release, it has come to our attention that they will receive some funding, but how much is unknown,” a second email from his office stated.
Meanwhile, the peninsula third MP, fellow Liberal Neale Burgess, attacked the government for not allocating money for the development of a container port at Hastings and its refusal “to provide any funding for additional frontline police in the Western Port area”.
“The first budget of the Andrews government is just the same old Labor. It has turned its back on this community again, just as it did when it was last in office,” Mr Burgess said.
First published in the Western Port News – 19 May 2015
