Brisbane inner west primary school ‘disappears’ from Govt list

A key state election promise to build the first new primary school in Brisbane’s inner-west in 60 years appears now not likely to happen until at least 2026, six years after its announcement.

Artist's impression of the new inner-west school, Toowong Bowls Club, Indooroopilly State High and flooding near the bowls club.

The first new primary school in Brisbane’s inner-west in 60 years now appears as if it might not happen until at least 2026, six years after its announcement, after the project disappeared from a State Government list.

The revelation comes after the Department of Education was forced to drop its two preferred locations, on the Indooroopilly State High School (ISHS) campus and at the defunct Toowong Bowls Club, in August last year following huge community protests.

Education Minister Grace Grace said last year tighter enrolment controls at St Lucia’s elite Ironside, Toowong and Indooroopilly state schools meant there was no longer urgent need for another facility.

But news that the primary school appeared to have been dropped, at least until after 2026, sparked a furore among residents and three local politicians.

“The new school has been DELETED,’’ LNP Councillor for the area, James Mackay, posted.

Design for the now canned inner-west school at Toowong.

“I decided to check out the progress of the new school for the inner west, on the state’s ‘planning for new schools’ website.

“The new school for our area has been deleted from the list of schools planned to open between 2023 and 2026.

“There are 15 other schools now listed to open and none near us. It’s (the inner west facility) effectively kiboshed.

“Local schools are still growing. For example, this year Indooroopilly State School

has nine classes in Year 6 — if you’ve been to that school lately you’d know it’s bursting at its seams.

“Ironside and Toowong (primary) schools both have more students than they were designed for. This ‘deletion’ presents a huge problem for our future generations.’’

Shadow Education Minister Dr Christian Rowan, who is also MP for the local state seat of Moggill, said the Government’s community consultation and planning processes for the school had been a “complete failure’’.

Residents were furious at the Indooroopilly State High School co-location option. Picture: Tara Croser

“In 2020, the Labor Minister for Education said that a new Primary School for Brisbane’s inner-west would be ready for day one in 2023,’’ Dr Rowan said.

“Then a year later, in 2021, the Premier and Minister for Education said delivery of this new primary school would be a priority for 2024.

“The fact that the State Government does not now even include Brisbane’s inner-west on its list of ongoing planning work for new schools in Queensland tells residents all they need to know about the lack of commitment this Labor Government has to delivering desperately needed school infrastructure.

“The Government must be open and transparent about how they will deal with school enrolment pressures and what plans it has for additional infrastructure for local schools in Brisbane’s western suburbs.

“This whole process has been a mess created by the Labor Minister for Education.”

The former Toowong Bowls Club. Picture: Steve Pohlner

A Department of Education spokeswoman did not reveal why the school had been deleted from the list, but said a consultation report was presently being finalised for publication.

“Two rounds of community consultation and significant studies into local traffic, geotechnical

and ecological mitigations had informed the identification of Toowong Bowls Club as the

preferred site,’’ she said.

“Following the 2022 floods, the Department of Education noted concerns raised through

community feedback about the site.

“Data shows that enrolments across local schools have stabilised, reducing pressure across

the network.

“Ironside, Indooroopilly and Toowong State Schools are all operating below student capacity.

“None of these schools have raised concerns about a capacity shortfall.’’

The Toowong Bowls Club site was more than 2m under water in the February floods.

Perrin Park, near the bowls club, in the 2011 flood. It was 2m under water again last February.

The Government previously released designs for a school there which it said would be above major flood levels, however residents pointed out that all access roads were cut for days in February.

Sewage also frequently overflowed from an adjacent pumping station after heavy rain and the site was next to a bat colony.

Parents at Toowong’s Queensland Academy For Science, Mathematics and Technology, the state’s top-performing secondary school, waged a fierce campaign after it emerged as one of about 11 potential sites.

They argued that made no sense as more than $30 million had recently been spent building facilities suitable for elite high school students.

Surrounding streets were also among the steepest in Brisbane and there was poor public transport.

Indooroopilly residents fought a well-organised, vocal campaign to block the ISHS option, arguing adjacent Lambert Rd was already choked with traffic from that school as well as St Peters Lutheran College, Holy Family School and Brigidine College.

Most of the other sites investigated by the department were rejected as being too small, too expensive to buy, floodprone or with poor transport connections.

The University of Queensland was believed to have declined an offer to build the school on its sprawling St Lucia campus.

Local state Greens MP Michael Berkman has previously said any new school must be built as close as possible to Taringa, even if that meant next to, or over, the train station.

The population of Indooroopilly, St Lucia, Taringa and Toowong have boomed in recent years with a flurry of highrise units and medium-density housing expected to add thousands of extra residents in the next few years.