Lapstone Public School library in election battleground
Lapstone Public School has become an unlikely state election battleground with both major parties promising to upgrade the school's library facilities.
L-R: Hayley Adamson; Natasha Bagge; Kylie Maddox Pidgeon; P&C treasurer, Kevin McKenzie; Macquarie MP, Susan Templeman; Labor candidate for Penrith, Karen McKeown; parent Rob Macdermid; and NSW Shadow Education Minister, Jihad Dib, with Lapstone Public School students.
NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes announced plans on February 19 for an upgraded library and administration building at the Lower Mountains school, alongside Penrith MP Stuart Ayres.
The announcement was part of a raft of other school projects for western Sydney.
“We want our children to have the best opportunities and providing high-quality school facilities is essential,” said Mr Stokes.
But Labor attacked the announcement - which was light on detail - as an "uncosted, election stunt". During a visit to the school on February 22, Labor announced a $2.9 million promise to build a new library.
Labor’s education spokesman, Jihad Dib, said its library plan had been through proper due diligence and was fully costed and budgeted.
“Labor has done the hard work. We’ve spoken with the community, we’ve spoken with the experts and we’ve costed our policies. We will deliver this in the first term of a Daley Government.
“Stuart Ayres and the Liberals are showing their desperation in Penrith by making uncosted, last minute announcements that have no delivery time line,” he said.
“Labor can afford to make fully costed investments like this in local schools, because unlike Stuart Ayres and the Liberals, we won’t waste $2.2 billion of taxpayer money on Sydney Stadiums.”
But Penrith MP Stuart Ayres accused Labor of copying the government's policies.
"This is just copy and paste politics and it shows Labor's got absolutely no new ideas for our community," he said.
Penrith MP Stuart Ayres (centre) at the library at Lapstone Public School.
Labor's Penrith candidate, Karen McKeown, said “local parents work hard to make sure their kids get the best opportunities at school, that’s why Labor is supporting them with this fully costed investment".
Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, congratulated Ms McKeown for campaigning with the Lapstone P&C, former students and the wider local community on the issue.
“When the P&C first wrote to me in 2016 about the need for a new library, they pointed out that the school hall - built under Labor’s Building the Education Revolution program - was the last major piece of infrastructure the school had received and there has been no significant investment since then," she said.
“Like the P&C, I wrote to the Liberal Member for Penrith and tried to meet with him on this issue. Fast forward to 2019 and Karen McKeown, who has only been the Labor candidate for a matter of months, has secured a $2.9 million commitment to build a new library in Labor’s first term, if it wins government.
“The Liberal Member for Penrith on the other hand, has had eight years in government and even now can only provide a pre-election headline but no definite costings or timeframe to back it up."