The NSW Government will invest a record $3.5 billion over four years to deliver a massive pipeline of more than 60 new and upgraded public schools in Sydney’s rapidly growing western suburbs, and tackle a school infrastructure backlog left by 12 years of Liberal National neglect.

Labor’s investment in western Sydney schools is $500 million higher than the former Liberal National government’s budget for the area.

The funding injection will ensure there are quality public schools for the city’s growing communities into the future, after the former government failed to provide these areas with local essential services.

The capital unlocked in this budget will fund the following new schools:

• A new primary school near Sydney Olympic Park
• A new high school for Wentworth Point
• A new high school for Melrose Park
• A new primary school for Gables
• A new primary school for Melonba
• A new high school for Melonba
• A new primary school for Nirimba Fields
• A new primary school for Tallawong
• A new high school for Schofields and Tallawong
• A new high school for Jordan Springs
• A new primary school for Gregory Hills
• A new high school for Gledswood Hills and Gregory Hills
• A new high school for Leppington and Denham Court
• A new high school for Edmondson Park
• A new primary school for Liverpool (Gulyangarri Public School)

The NSW Government will also upgrade schools to deliver new facilities and address overcrowding which worsened under the former government’s watch.

Suburbs where schools will be upgraded include Austral, Cecil Hills, Condell Park, Dundas, Eagle Vale, Kingswood, Leppington, Northmead and The Ponds.

The delivery of these new and upgraded schools represents a key election commitment from the NSW Government, which came to power with a mandate to fix the school infrastructure backlog in Sydney’s growth areas.

As part of its plan, the NSW Government remains committed to building nine schools promised but not started under the Liberal National government’s WestInvest scheme. The former government spent just 1 per cent of $478 million earmarked in its last budget from the scheme for major capital works projects in the city’s west.

The government is due to hand down the findings of its Enrolment Growth Audit later this year, which will ensure education is factored into future planning for the city and address the former government’s failures to provide local public schools in expanding suburban areas.

These essential infrastructure builds and upgrades can be funded because the NSW Government is making the difficult but responsible decisions with spending.

The NSW Government is setting out a long-term plan to gradually repair the budget in a sustainable way, to reprioritise spending to where it is needed most, and to rebuild the essential services that we all rely on.

And it will be done without privatising essential public assets or imposing an unfair cap on the wages of our essential service workers.

Quotes attributable to Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns:

“Thousands of families moved into suburbs like Schofields, Tallawong, Nirimba Fields and The Ponds on the promise of local schools for their children, but the former government never delivered them.

“We were elected with a mandate to rebuild essential services – and there is nothing more essential than the education of the next generation of children.

“We are a government with a clear focus – managing our finances responsibly so we can provide support when you need it most and improve the essential services that we all rely on, now and into the future.”

Quotes attributable to Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Prue Car:

“For years, western Sydney’s rapidly growing communities have been crying out for more public schools for young families, but the previous Liberal National Government chose to leave them behind.

“This Labor government understands how important it is for all young families to have access to a local public school, where children can get a high quality, education without a lengthy commute or expensive fees.

“We are not only building the schools that families need – we are ensuring those schools are properly staffed with qualified teachers who are appropriately paid, working to undo the former government’s erosion of pay and conditions that left NSW in a teacher shortage crisis.

“The Minns Labor Government is making the careful and necessary decisions to address the holes left in the budget by the Liberals and ensure we fund the essential services people rely on. We are focusing on what people need most, and that’s essential services like high quality local schools.”