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New Wonthaggi college by 2019

27/10/2017

14 Comments

 
PictureEastern Victoria MP Harriet Shing and Premier Daniel Andrews talk to students in the Wonthaggi Secondary College library.
Victorian Premier makes surprise visit to Wonthaggi to announce $32.5 million funding for a new secondary college.

By Catherine Watson
 
JAMES Merlino’s visit to Wonthaggi was announced yesterday, confidentially, but word spread quickly through the town. The Education Minister was visiting Wonthaggi Secondary College on Friday morning to make an announcement.
 
When Mr Merlino was last in town in April 2016, with his cabinet colleagues, he virtually promised the shire a new secondary college. Hence the massive disappointment when there was no announcement in the 2017-18 state budget.
 
Clearly he wasn’t coming back to announce $7000 for new computers or a new cleaning contract. This time it had to be the real thing.
 
From 10.30am a steady stream of people arrived at the school.  Most of them wore big smiles, but there was also an air of slight nervousness. They’d been let down so many time before. It couldn’t happen again, could it? Maybe it was another study, or a multi- staged project that will take a couple of decades to complete.
 
When the time came, it wasn’t the Education Minister who arrived but the Premier, Daniel Andrews, who was led down the hall to a very crowded school library.
 
“It looks as if the whole town has come out!” a senior education Department official said in amazement.

As Mr Andrews and Eastern Victoria MP Harriet Shing did a meet and greet with some slightly flummoxed students, the surrounding adults were abuzz.
 
At 11.15am, Mr Andrews addressed the room and quickly put everyone out of their misery. The state government has allocated $32.5 million to build a new Wonthaggi Secondary College on a site adjacent to the Bass Coast Specialist School.
 
The project will go to tender before the end of the year. Building will start early in the new year – perhaps even late this year. The project will take 18 months, which means the school should be finished by mid-2019.
 
Spontaneous applause broke out. Not a staged project over two decades but the whole thing in 18 months. Not an election promise but a done deal. This was beyond expectations.
 
Mr Andrews said the new college would have outdoor learning areas, a central plaza, a library and facilities for visual arts, graphics, materials technology and science. It will feature a new multi-sports highball stadium with three competition-grade basketball/netball courts, a canteen, change rooms and specialist spaces for performing arts, music and food technology.
 
The stadium, which will be part-funded by $1.5 million investment by the council, will be available for community use.
 
Acting principal Darren Parker was close to tears when he spoke.  “It’s an amazing day for our college and the whole Bass Coast area,” he said. “This will have a positive impact on many lives.”
 
Bass Coast Mayor Pamela Rothfield said it was the biggest investment ever made in Bass Coast. “This issue has galvanised the whole Bass Coast community.”
 
Another one close to tears was Bass Coast deputy mayor Brett Tessari, who attended the school in the 1980s. “It was a disaster case back then,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s finally happening.”
 
If the Premier was seeking light relief after a trying week, he surely found it in the looks of relief and pure joy in that room.
 
There were grins everywhere as the news radiated out. Just down the road from the school, the Coffee Collective’s James Archibald quickly rewrote his advertising blackboard to spread the good news. 
14 Comments
Carmen Bush
27/10/2017 03:06:40 pm

WOW! Congrats to all the people who worked hard to make their voices heard. What a great announcement!

Reply
bob middleton
27/10/2017 03:12:42 pm

Great reporting and great timing. Wonderful news.Thanks BCP and thanks vicgov..

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Ursula Theinert
27/10/2017 03:23:58 pm

Hooray how absolutely wonderful! Great reporting, great news and a great future ahead for Wonthaggi...much deserved.

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Jacqui Paulson
27/10/2017 04:02:23 pm

So happy to hear this news.

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Hilary Stuchbery
27/10/2017 04:10:21 pm

One more step towards a well supplied and rounded community. Well done all concerned. Thanks for the news BCP.

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Ruth and Peter Glare link
27/10/2017 04:44:12 pm

Great reporting, Catherine. Thank goodness we have at State level, a Labor Government that listens to its constituents.We are very lucky to have Harriet Shing as our Upper House member.

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Clare Le Serve
27/10/2017 05:26:34 pm

Fantastic News! there have been many promises over the years with many people working very hard to get to this point. Educating is the backbone to better opportunities. Thank you to the State Government for listening.

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James Archibald link
27/10/2017 06:34:46 pm

Amazing news! Credit to all those involved with the funding bid. Many individuals within the community spent countless unpaid hours lobbying stakeholders and government to support this endeavour. Let's not forget the indoor stadium funding announcement as well. Amazing effort. Well done to all.

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Sue Packham
29/10/2017 03:09:50 pm

The 'countless hours' is what it takes for the MPs to hear the message relating to the needs of a community! Well done to those who did the hard yards so well and for so long. The kids of tomorrow will benefit from what sounds like a facility providing a wide range of learning options for our diverse region.

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N Smith
27/10/2017 07:06:28 pm

Ecstatic news. Will make a great town even better. Looking to the future is what a town needs to flourish. Congrats to Bass Coast Post for giving us this news.

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Jane Westworth
27/10/2017 08:51:20 pm

What an absolute delight to open the Bass Coast Post and read such very good news! Thank you, Catherine for getting this out so promptly. It’s fantastic - especially the fact that Daniel Andrews came down to Wonthaggi himself - and that everything is actually planned to begin so soon. Excellent!

Reply
Geoff Ellis
28/10/2017 07:56:55 am

Well done team Bass Coast!

Congratulations to a strong, vocal community that passionately showed the State Government what matters.

Well done Daniel Andrews for listening and thank you Harriet Shing - you represent an enormous community and you do it with compassion and dedication.

We should also acknowledge the huge effort of Mayor Rothfield and previous Mayors Le Serve, Rankine and Crugnale who set the stage for this by getting those ministers down here last year.

And the tireless BCSC staff and officers - they deserve a bloody great pat on the back.

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Mark Robertson
28/10/2017 06:49:04 pm

Amidst the headlong rush to congratulate all the paid participants from the state government and Bass Coast Shire, I would like to acknowledge the years of effort put in by the unpaid School Council members, particularly its president, Geoff Robertson. Well done my brother for displaying the care and tenacity which has made Wonthaggi a community which has always punched far above its weight.I am exceedingly proud of you.

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Anne Heath Mennell
10/11/2017 07:21:05 pm

Wonderful to return home after a couple of weeks to this splendid news. About time, but at least it's going to happen speedily. Bouquets to anyone and everyone who worked heart and soul to make this happen and who never faltered through all the let downs.
After the Sandy Hook massacre, Barack Obama said that 'looking after kids is our first job'. Education is a huge part of that and this money is an investment in our future. Roll on 2019!

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