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Question and Answer Tracking Details

7548 - Education and Early Childhood Learning - PONDICHERRY LAKES PRECINCT

Mookhey, Daniel to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning

(1) Is the Government aware of an advertisement by the Greenfields Development Company in the Sydney Morning Herald (23 August 2021) calling for expressions of interest from private educational institutions for the purchase of a school site located in what is described as “an emerging prestigious precinct” – the Pondicherry Lakes Precinct?

(2) When was permission granted for this site to be sold for the establishment of a private school campus?

(a) How did this occur?

(b) By whom?

(3) Is the Pondicherry Lakes Precinct, which is part of the Oran Park Development, a partnership between the Greenfields Development Company and the Government agency Landcom?

(4) According to the brief provided for Expressions of Interest, “the project developers GDC are solely responsible for bringing Pondicherry to life….”:

(a) Is the Greenfields Development Company solely responsible or are Landcom and the project developers jointly responsible for identifying this site for a non-government school campus?

(5) Was the site identified initially as part of Government planning for a school, or, more specifically for a non-government school?

(6) Will the responsibility for assessing the merits of the expressions of interest put forward by competing private educational institutions in response to this advertisement rest with the Greenfields Development Company?

(7) Does the Greenfields Development Company have the necessary educational expertise to exercise this responsibility?

(8) Does the Government consider that it is the role of property developers to solicit proposals for the establishment of private schools under the Education Act as part of their marketing strategy for selling properties in “prestigious developments”?

(9) Is the Government itself involved, through Landcom, in soliciting such proposals?

(10) What steps have been taken by the Government, to assess the impact of the establishment of a private school campus on this site in the Pondicherry Lakes Precinct on existing schools in the area?

(11) What contact has been made by the Greenfields Development Company or Landcom with NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), as the registering authority for non-government schools?

(12) What contact has been made by potential buyers of the land with NESA or the Department of Education regarding plans for the establishment of a school on this site in the Pondicherry Lakes Precinct?

(13) What assurances have been sought or given, in the process of the land sale, regarding registration for the proposed school?

(14) At what stage will NESA, as the registering authority for private schools, be involved in the sale of this site for this new private school?
Answer -

(1) Yes.

(2) The Department of Education does not hold this information.

(3) The Department of Education does not hold this information.

(4) The Department of Education does not hold this information.

(5) There is no site referred to in the Expression of Interest. The Department continues to work with a range of stakeholders to secure sites for new schools in the South West Growth Area

(6) The Department of Education does not hold this information.

(7) The Department of Education does not hold this information.

(8) Proposals for new housing developments including reserving land for potential future schools are considered as part of the planning processes usually through the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and local government.

(9) The Department of Education does not hold this information.

(10) The Department considers the provision of non-government schools in its forecasts for enrolments in existing public schools and when planning for new schools.

(11) NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has no record of any contact from the Greenfields Development Company or Landcom.

(12) NESA has no record of any contact from potential buyers of the land.

(13) NESA has provided no assurances and none have been sought in regard to the land sale and the registration of a proposed school.

(14) NESA will not be involved at any stage in the sale of the site.

Question asked on 21 September 2021 (session 57-1) and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 589
Answer received on 12 October 2021 and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 602

The Parliament of New South Wales acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of all Aboriginal people, and pays respects to all Elders past and present. We acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Parliament of New South Wales stands.