Pakenham not alone

Bass MP Ken Smith said there were a number of other primary schools that needed either a total rebuild or a substantial upgrade.
These included Kooweerup and Nar Nar Goon which needed rebuilds and Garfield, Bayles and Bunyip primary schools, which needed upgrades, Mr Smith said.
The poor condition of schools at Cardinia and Kooweerup has previously been reported in the Gazette.
Mr Smith said the Nar Nar Goon primary school was also in urgent need of attention.
Mr Smith met school council president Darren Spargo on Monday to inspect the buildings.
“They are all portables and very old, mostly out of the 1950s and 60s,” Mr Smith said.
“It is time the school itself was rebuilt, not just patched up. It needs a total rebuild.”
He said in State Parliament recently he wanted to see money from the sale of Snowy Hydro go towards new schools in the area.
Mr Smith said he did not ask much from Education Minister Lynne Kosky — “just funding and a commitment for a new primary school at Heritage Springs at Pakenham, a new secondary college at Pakenham, school rebuilds at Kooweerup, Nar Nar Goon and Garfield and upgrades at Bayles, Bunyip and Clyde,” he said.
But his comments prompted criticism from Ms Kosky who was quick to remind the Liberal MP of his party’s opposition to the sale of Snowy Hydro.
Ms Kosky said Mr Smith was “therefore utterly opposed also to that money going to schools”.
“While some schools are in need of full replacement, I think there are also some members who are in need of full replacement,” she said.
The State Government has previously said it has invested strongly in schools in the Cardinia Shire since 1999, to a total value of more than $24 million.