Blue Mountains Labor MP Trish Doyle has clashed with Liberal Upper House MP Shayne Mallard over Tuesday's NSW budget.
Ms Doyle blasted the state government and Premier Gladys Berejiklian, pointing to budget papers that show that no Blue Mountains schools are in line for "critical, overdue upgrades".
"The Blue Mountains community has been frozen out by this budget. After years of privatisation and public asset sales, this government has billions of dollars of our money at its disposal, but they have failed to reinvest any money in our local schools," she said.
Ms Doyle identified Blaxland High School's desperate need for new industrial kitchens to allow them to undertake HSC-level coursework in food technology, along with the industrial technology facilities at Katoomba High which are "from another century", as well as infrastructure at Springwood High, which has not been renovated or upgraded since it first opened in 1967.
"Yet again, the Liberals have prioritised their ideological obsessions, like building toll-roads and private schools while presiding over spiralling cost blow-outs and breathtaking mismanagement. With just the money lost to cost blow-outs on WestConnex we could have built 100 new schools across the state or we could have rid ourselves of the scourge of so-called 'permanent demountable' classrooms," said Ms Doyle.
Upper House Liberal MP Shayne Mallard rejected the MP's criticism of this week's state budget.
"Whilst Ms Doyle complains about school repairs in her electorate the fact is that the NSW Liberal government has budgeted to wipe out all public school maintenance backlog by 2020. That includes the schools in the Blue Mountains neglected by Labor over 16 years in office," he said.
"The NSW Liberals budget sets a record $7.3 billion in public school infrastructure including 190 new and upgraded schools.
"The NSW Liberals budget adds 4600 more teachers, 5000 more nurses and midwives, 3300 more health professionals, and 1500 more police."
Mr Mallard said the budget allocated millions to the Blue Mountains seat such as $4 million on water upgrades at Katoomba and $26 million on transport projects including road and rail upgrades.
"Labor's Trish Doyle seems the one more ideologically obsessed about asset recycling or privatisation as she cries wolf about the policies that were endorsed in the March election for our historic third term," Mr Mallard said.
But Ms Doyle accused the Liberal MP of missing the point. She was criticising the lack major upgrades and new facilities for Blue Mountains schools, not maintenance work which Mr Mallard referred to.
"This response just proves that Mr Mallard doesn't actually read or understand the budget papers. After two or three years of being shamed for their spiralling maintenance backlog, the Liberals now say they will address it. Good," she said.
"What I was highlighting, however, was not flaking paint or torn carpet but long-term capacity constraints and archaic facilities which need complete renewal or replacement. These issues are being addressed in Liberal-held electorates and ignored in the Blue Mountains."
Specific projects for the Blue Mountains in the state budget included: $660,000 to the NSW Land and Housing Corporation for social housing upgrades; $360,000 to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust for minor works; $395,000 to the Sydney Water Corporation for upgrading reliability of sewage treatment plants; $4 million to Water NSW for the Blue Mountains system upgrade; and $26.5 million on transport projects including three station upgrades and road safety works and upgrades.