UPDATED
THE state government's announcement of funding in next week's budget to construct Newcastle Education Campus has led to more questions than answers, after it was not able to confirm the amount of money, or scope of works, for the project.
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Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Taylor Martin announced the infrastructure funding for the campus and to upgrade Hunter River High and Irrawang High as part of a $2.1 billion budget allocation, which will help deliver 44 new and upgraded schools.
"These three school upgrades will be an incredible asset for the entire community, ensuring high-quality education facilities for students and teachers," Mr Martin said in a statement.
But it is unclear how much each project will receive and what the works will comprise.
A Department of Education spokeswoman told the Newcastle Herald on Thursday night that the Newcastle Education Campus is a new name for the controversial Newcastle Education Precinct, which was announced in mid-2018 and included upgrading Newcastle High and building a new primary school.
- New primary school may be 'inserted' into Newcastle Education Precinct in future
- Your Right to Know: 'Limited justification' for new Newcastle primary school, state government report finds
- Upgrade Newcastle schools instead of building new one: government report
- School's out: government's secret decision on Newcastle Education Precinct revealed
- Government loses bid to keep Newcastle Education Precinct documents confidential
"The total amount of funding allocated to these projects remains commercial in confidence until the tender process is completed," she said.
"This helps us deliver value for money for the NSW taxpayers by keeping the process commercially competitive.
"Now that funding is confirmed, detailed designs and planning documentation can be developed.
"The final business case is targeted for submission in mid-2021. More details will be available once this process is completed.
"The government is building a number of education campuses across the state.
"To maintain consistency and better reflect the nature of the project, the project in Newcastle has also adopted this name."
A spokesman from Mr Martin's office said the masterplan with the full scope of works would be released "shortly".
Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp said the community didn't "want this government watering down the name to make it easier to water down what they deliver".
"We already know the government is considering breaking their pre-election promise of a new primary school and is looking for creative ways to fulfil the brief of a 'precinct', and with no detail provided in this announcement I'm concerned that a name change is foreshadowing something," he said.
"I would love to be proven wrong though, so I'm looking forward to the government filling in the details of this announcement with great news."
As previously reported in the Herald, a department briefing for Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell dated November 2020 said service need reports showed "a clear requirement for an upgrade to Newcastle High School (demand and asset driven) however there is limited justification, based on demand, for a new primary school".
"Given the announcement by the government was for the establishment of a new educational precinct, a number of options have been identified to address this requirement," it said.
Including an integrated senior school for specific purpose on the Newcastle High site was the preferred option.
It said between $50 and $80 million would be required for the precinct, while delivering a primary and high school would "well exceed $100 million".
The Herald reported in June last year the government had still not prepared a business case for precinct.
The Herald applied under freedom of information laws for access to documents about the precinct, but the application was denied.
The Herald appealed to the Information and Privacy Commission, which found the government's decision to not disclose the documents was "not justified" and recommended it "make a new decision by way of internal review".
The department upheld its original decision.
The Legislative Council called on November 11 last year for papers relating to the precinct.
The department presented four boxes of documents on December 2, but three were subject to a blanket claim of privilege.
MP Peter Primrose successfully disputed this claim in its entirety.
Meanwhile, Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said she and the community had been kept in the dark about the upgrades to Hunter River and Irrawang high schools.
The government said in July 2019 the upgrades would increase enrolments at both schools and in March 2021 that business cases had been finalised for both schools.
Ms Washington said she applied for both business cases under freedom of information laws, but was refused access to them because they are considered cabinet in confidence.
She has asked the Information and Privacy Commission to review this decision.
Parliamentary Secretary for Education Kevin Conolly told Ms Washington in April this year that planning projections for Port Stephens including Medowie "indicate that the best investment in school infrastructure" is to upgrade both schools.
She said the government must "come clean with our community".
"The Minister should visit Medowie, look frustrated families in the face and tell them why their children don't deserve a local public high school," she said.
Both schools "desperately need upgrades", she said, and she supported these.
"But the government's secret plan is to squeeze more and more kids into Raymond Terrace schools so they never have to deliver a public high school in Medowie.
"This government has ignored the wishes of an entire community."
EARLIER
THE state government's announcement of funding in next week's budget to construct Newcastle Education Campus has led to more questions than answers, after it was not able to confirm the amount of money, or scope of works, for the project.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Taylor Martin announced the infrastructure funding for the campus and to upgrade Hunter River High and Irrawang High as part of a $2.1 billion budget allocation, which will help deliver 44 new and upgraded schools.
"These three school upgrades will be an incredible asset for the entire community, ensuring high-quality education facilities for students and teachers," Mr Martin said in a statement.
But it is unclear how much each project will receive, what the works will comprise and if the Newcastle Education Campus is a new name for - or departure from - the controversial Newcastle Education Precinct, which was announced in mid-2018 and included upgrading Newcastle High and building a new primary school.
- New primary school may be 'inserted' into Newcastle Education Precinct in future
- Your Right to Know: 'Limited justification' for new Newcastle primary school, state government report finds
- Upgrade Newcastle schools instead of building new one: government report
- School's out: government's secret decision on Newcastle Education Precinct revealed
- Government loses bid to keep Newcastle Education Precinct documents confidential
A Department of Education spokeswoman told the Newcastle Herald on June 15 - a week out from the state budget - that the final business case for the precinct was "targeted for submission in mid-2021" and "more details would be available once this process is completed".
The Herald asked the department to clarify details about the campus on Thursday, but did not receive a response by deadline.
A spokesman from Mr Martin's office said the estimated total costs for the projects "won't be disclosed until after a construction contract is awarded to maintain commercial competitiveness during the tender process and ensure value for money on the projects".
"The funding that is allocated as part of the 2021/22 Budget has allowed for the funding for construction at the Newcastle Education Campus to now take place," he said.
"The masterplan will come out shortly which will have a full scope of works."
Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp said the government needed to be more transparent.
"The first thing I'd like to know is what exactly the 'Newcastle Education Campus' is," Mr Crakanthorp said.
"I sincerely hope it's an error and they actually meant to say 'Newcastle Education Precinct', because we don't want this government watering down the name to make it easier to water down what they deliver.
"We already know the government is considering breaking their pre-election promise of a new primary school and is looking for creative ways to fulfil the brief of a 'precinct', and with no detail provided in this announcement I'm concerned that a name change is foreshadowing something.
"I would love to be proven wrong though, so I'm looking forward to the government filling in the details of this announcement with great news."
As previously reported in the Herald, a department briefing for Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell dated November 2020 said service need reports showed "a clear requirement for an upgrade to Newcastle High School (demand and asset driven) however there is limited justification, based on demand, for a new primary school".
"Given the announcement by the government was for the establishment of a new educational precinct, a number of options have been identified to address this requirement," it said.
Including an integrated senior school for specific purpose on the Newcastle High site was the preferred option.
It said between $50 and $80 million would be required for the precinct, while delivering a primary and high school would "well exceed $100 million".
The Herald reported in June last year the government had still not prepared a business case for precinct.
The Herald applied under freedom of information laws for access to documents about the precinct, but the application was denied.
The Herald appealed to the Information and Privacy Commission, which found the government's decision to not disclose the documents was "not justified" and recommended it "make a new decision by way of internal review".
The department upheld its original decision.
The Legislative Council called on November 11 last year for papers relating to the precinct.
The department presented four boxes of documents on December 2, but three were subject to a blanket claim of privilege.
MP Peter Primrose successfully disputed this claim in its entirety.
Meanwhile, Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said she and the community had been kept in the dark about the upgrades to Hunter River and Irrawang high schools.
The government said in July 2019 the upgrades would increase enrolments at both schools and in March 2021 that business cases had been finalised for both schools.
Ms Washington said she applied for both business cases under freedom of information laws, but was refused access to them because they are considered cabinet in confidence.
She has asked the Information and Privacy Commission to review this decision.
Parliamentary Secretary for Education Kevin Conolly told Ms Washington in April this year that planning projections for Port Stephens including Medowie "indicate that the best investment in school infrastructure" is to upgrade both schools.
She said the government must "come clean with our community".
"The Minister should visit Medowie, look frustrated families in the face and tell them why their children don't deserve a local public high school," she said.
Both schools "desperately need upgrades", she said, and she supported these.
"But the government's secret plan is to squeeze more and more kids into Raymond Terrace schools so they never have to deliver a public high school in Medowie.
"This government has ignored the wishes of an entire community."
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