WA's Public Schools in State of Disrepair With 10,000+ Defects

As students head back to school this week, a landmark assessment has laid bare the extent of neglect in Western Australia’s public schools, revealing more than 10,000 maintenance defects.

The Building Condition Assessment (BCA), dated to February 2024, is compiled via a series of inspections of every public school. The latest BCA recorded more than 10,400 defects – a damning snapshot of the Cook Government’s neglect of Western Australian schools.

Of the State’s 834 public schools, those with the highest number of defects were:
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Esperance Senior High School – 121 defects

Manjimup Senior High School – 87 defects

Kent Street Senior High School – 86 defects

Shenton College – 85 defects

Singleton Primary School – 79 defects

Riverside Primary School – 74 defects

West Greenwood Primary School – 74 defects

Armadale Senior High School – 73 defects

Baldivis Secondary College – 73 defects

Falcon Primary School – 69 defects

The stark figures are substantiated by startling photos and testimonials from within WA schools, with many students and teachers working amongst crumbling and struggling infrastructure every day.

Shadow Education Minister Liam Staltari said the report laid bare the state of disrepair and neglect that too many schools had fallen into under the Cook Labor Government.

“Like our public hospitals, our public schools are bearing the brunt of eight years of Labor’s neglect and wrong priorities,” he said.

“The extensive list of defects that I’ve seen and heard about from school communities includes cracked walls, sagging ceilings held up by wooden batons above student desks, broken floorboards, mould-riddled transportables and windows that have literally rusted shut.”

Mr Staltari said many of the schools that recorded the most defects were in regional WA and outer suburban communities, regions that had been crying out for help for years.

“Roger Cook’s Labor Government should be ashamed of the conditions that too many of our children and teachers are facing every day,” he said.

“This reality must be compounding teacher stress and the sense of disrespect that we know is driving record resignations.

“And while these schools languish, the Government fast-tracks pet projects like the $217.5 million racetrack at Burswood and the Malaga Film Studio – using taxpayer funds that would transform many of these schools.

“This report is a long overdue wake up call. No one should have to work and learn in these conditions and the Government needs to sit up and listen.”

Roe MP Peter Rundle said Esperance Senior High School in his district – which topped the list with the highest number of defects - had been in need of maintenance for far too long.

“Esperance Senior High School was built in the 1960s for 400 students. It now has more than double that number of students,” he said.

“It’s time for the Cook Labor Government to prioritise education infrastructure. Esperance students and families are not second-class citizens and deserve some equity.”

Warren-Blackwood MP Bevan Eatts raised similar concerns about the schools in his electorate, which includes Manjimup Senior High School - the school with the second highest number of defects.

“Across Warren–Blackwood, too many of our public schools are ageing, overcrowded, and under-resourced,” he said.

“Principals and staff are doing an incredible job holding things together – but the cracks are showing.

Parents shouldn’t have to weigh up whether their local school is up to standard.

Families are being forced to reconsider schooling options and that’s not good enough.”

ENDS

Contact: Graham Mason 0419 194 792

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