Port Adelaide schools need overhaul ahead of shipbuilder influx, Mayor Gary Johanson say

PORT Adelaide needs to dramatically overhaul its schools as the area prepares for a huge influx of highly skilled shipbuilders, Mayor Gary Johanson says.

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PORT Adelaide needs to dramatically overhaul its schools as the area prepares to accommodate a huge influx of highly skilled shipbuilders, Mayor Gary Johanson says.

The Port Adelaide Enfield Mayor said the area’s schools needed to be extended and the curriculum altered as the $90 billion shipbuilding program at Osborne’s Techport prepares to turbocharge the nearby area.

Port Adelaide-Enfield mayor Gary Johanson

The huge shipbuilding investment is predicted to create extra 8000 direct and indirect jobs in South Australia, with most to be located around the shipyards.

It’s predicted South Australia’s population will also grow by between 30,000 and 50,000 people as a result of the investment.

Mr Johanson said Port Adelaide’s schools were “bursting at the seams” and an extension of the city’s schools was critical to ensuring it could cope with any population explosion.

But he said the expansion should be accompanied by a bolstered curriculum.

“You’ve got highly educated children who are used to being educated at a high level, and you need to ensure there’s local schools that can provide that same level of education,” Mr Johanson said.

Citypulse research, commissioned by The Advertiser and conducted by PwC, said the northwestern suburbs needed education facilities if it did not receive a public transport overhaul.

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“Either we need to look at improving public transport options in the region or establishing a new education hub in the northwestern suburbs where people can be educated and trained with the hi-tech skills needed to service the expanding defence sector,” the research says.

“Many university and TAFE campuses across Adelaide are serviced by light rail or public transport and this needs to be considered as part of an integrated plan for the Port Adelaide precinct.”

Mr Johanson nominated the in-demand Portside Christian College, as well as Le Fevre High School and Ocean View P-12 College as those where upgrades should be considered.

“They’re working at capacity at the moment and they just need more space,” he said.

“What we’ve got is steeped in tradition, well located and they put through high quality students. It’s good but it’s just whether it can cope with increase numbers.”

“It’s about consolidating our existing resources rather than designing new resources.”

Taperoo’s Ocean View had 712 students enrolled there in 2017 according to My School data, New Port’s Portside Christian College had 647 students and Le Fevre, in Semaphore South, had 525.

Mr Johanson also said Port Adelaide had “vast measures of industrial space just waiting for investment” and was already starting to benefit from the shipbuilding investment.

“We’re close to a number things already that are all at a sensitive stage of negotiations,” he said.

“These are genuine people from the biggest and smallest companies taking really genuine interest in what’s about to happen in Port Adelaide.”

Time for city to develop a ‘brand’ to supercharge investment

THE city must develop a clear “Adelaide brand” to sell our capital and the state to potential businesses and residents, Lord Mayor Martin Haese says.

The council has already made moves to ensure a slice of the $90 billion shipbuilding program at Osborne is translated to the city by dangling its 10 Gigabit project in front of all three international bidders for the Future Frigates program.

But the Lord Mayor said there was one major imitative his council and the Government could do to capitalise on the Adelaide’s attractiveness.

Adelaide Lord Major Martin Haese. Picture: AAP / Keryn Stevens

“There is one thing that we are truly lacking and that is a Adelaide brand,” Mr Haese said. “We have a state brand, which I think is communicated well … but people don’t come to states and provinces, they come to cities; if someone was in Eastern Europe they would go to Sydney not NSW notwithstanding they are in NSW when they arrive in Sydney.”

Citypulse research, commissioned by The Advertiser and done by PwC, says Adelaide’s relative short commute times, housing affordability and world-class arts and cultural events make the city an attractive place to live, work and play.

Mr Haese said the State Government and Tourism SA needed to get on the board and quickly develop these key Adelaide selling points., but said if they won’t his council will do it on its own.

“I think that will go a long way towards curing our condition to underselling Adelaide … we need this brand it’s a glaring omission, it’s so obvious,” he said.

Mr Haese said the city council had entered into discussions with the three bidders for the Future Frigates program — Britain’s BAE, Italy’s Fincantieri and Spain’s Navantia — about using the upcoming ultra fast 10 Gig data system.

Mr Haese said Fincantieri had set up a satellite office in the city and he believed the $12 million internet project would help SA take advantage of the massive defence spend.

“It offers data speed, it offers data bandwidth but perhaps more importantly it offers them data security which is just so important to them,” he said. “I must say we have a very enthusiastic response from those we have talked to.”

Mr Haese said the council supported of a City Deal but it should be more than the defence precinct or the future of the old RAH site.

“Can this City Deal link the City of Adelaide to the Port and the defence work going on there?,” he said. The council supported a proposed light rail to the Port, he said.

— Simeon Thomas-Wilson

A new era of opportunity at the Port

THE creation of a multi-billion Defence hub on the Port’s doorstep opens up a world of opportunities for the Whaley family.

Stephen, Frances and Josh Whaley of Largs Bay say they all stand to benefit from the $90 billion worth of Defence projects beginning at Techport in Osborne later this year and running until the 2080s.

No one welcomes it more than 16-year-old Josh, who wants to be a naval engineer.

The Le Fevre High School student is currently in Year 11, studying marine engineering.

Once he graduates at the end of next year, he plans to enrol in a three-year Bachelor of Maritime Engineering at Flinders University.

He will graduate at the perfect time — just as work on the $50 billion Future Submarines project surfaces in 2022-2023.

“I’d probably be doing the engineering side, maintaining the engines and all the machinery on the submarines,” Josh said.

Frances, Josh, Ben and Stephen Whaley of Largs Bay. Picture: Calum Robertson

“I chose it because I love the ocean and engines and machinery — I like figuring out how they work.”

His parents, Frances and Stephen, say the Defence projects will “regenerate” Port Adelaide and could result in local jobs for them too.

“Both our jobs currently aren’t local but we both could get roles in Port Adelaide if they built (more) services that we work in, like health and hospitality,” Mrs Whaley, a registered nurse, said.

Mr Whaley, a chef, said there would likely be more people living in Port Adelaide to be close to Techport, which would create jobs in areas such as hospitality and retail.

“If a lot more people come down and things get more lively, a lot more restaurants will open,” he said.

“(The Defence work) will bring that population who will either be living down here or working down here and then staying here

“It will regenerate the Port and there will be less vacant buildings, new businesses and apartments and a mixture of heritage buildings (as well as) more people on the street.”

— Ashleigh Pisani