| PRUE CAR MP SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION JANELLE SAFFIN MP STATE MEMBER FOR LISMORE JUSTINE ELLIOT MP FEDERAL MEMBER FOR RICHMOND The Liberals and Nationals have refused to front up to the Murwillumbah community and halt their forced school closures. Gladys Berejiklian, John Barilaro and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell have been in witness protection since their bombshell announcement to force four Murwillumbah schools to close in favour of an American-style mega-school. Shadow Education Minister Prue Car, Lismore MP Janelle Saffin and Richmond MP Justine Elliot are holding a community forum today to hear the concerns of local families and teachers. The Liberals’ and Nationals’ forced closures of Murwillumbah Public School, Murwillumbah East Public School and Wollumbin High School will see the end of beloved community schools, with the replacement being an American-style mega-school at Murwillumbah High School. The forced closure of Murwillumbah East Public School breaks a key election promise the Liberals and Nationals made to upgrade the school. Ms Car said, “These forced school closures were approved in secret, with no community consultation, and now the Premier and Minister refuse to speak to the community.” “The Liberals and Nationals are refusing to ask North Coast families the most important question: do they want school closures in exchange for an American-style mega-school? They’re not asking the question because they know the answer would be no. “Unfortunately, the Liberals and Nationals are forcing these closures anyway because the views of local communities couldn’t matter less to them,” Ms Car said. Ms Saffin said, “So far, the Government has not provided the community with a good reason for the closure, especially the educational advantage for the children, which lead people to think that it is about selling off this prime real estate land.” “Given the NSW Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell was less than truthful with the Murwillumbah East Public School community about restoration following the 2017 flood damage, it is hard to have faith in what the Government wants to do.” “The Minister signed off on this schools closure in February this year. There must be more documents that talk about the plan for the prime real estate land where these three schools slated for closure are located.” “I demand all papers to be released, as our community deserve to know the truth about all of this,” Ms Saffin said. Ms Elliot said, “This is a bad decision by a bad government. These secret school closures are a shameful act by the Liberals and Nationals – they’re selling out our children and selling out our community” “The North Coast Nationals MPs have been plotting for months to forcibly close four local schools, cram students into one location and sell the other school sites. Our community wants the NSW Government to scrap this bad decision.” |
FRIDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2020
