WSU Milperra campus: Education Minister backflips on new high school

The Education Minister has backflipped on her public support for a new high school in Sydney’s southwest. Now, local residents are urging the state government to reconsider.

Liberal Canterbury-Bankstown councillor Charbel Abouraad proposed a motion at the last council meeting calling for a high school on the site.

The Education Minister has backflipped on her public support for a new high school in Sydney’s southwest if a university campus was bulldozed, with residents urging the government to reconsider.

Western Sydney University’s Milperra campus closure was announced in 2017, with the campus relocated to the university’s Bankstowns site. The abandoned campus is now proposed to be developed, in partnership with Mirvac, into 430 homes and a town centre.

The NSW Government transferred the land to WSU in 1997 and plans to rezone the site were granted gateway approval last year.

In a 2020 Facebook post Ms Car said: “Any new development on the Western Sydney University campus at Milperra must include a new high school. Time to get it right for once.”

However, a Department of Education spokesman said the department was “not considering the campus as a site for a new high school”.

Canterbury-Bankstown locals protest the demolition of the UWS Milperra Campus on Dec six last year.

“We are confident that anticipated future demand can be accommodated in existing schools,” the spokesman said.

Milperra resident and member of the Future of WSU Milperra Campus action group Paul Judge said the government’s decision was “surprising” as the demand for a high school was “high”.

“Every high school and primary school are at capacity and the demand is only being met through the use of demountables,” he said.

“Once the bulldozers roll and the site is levelled, there’s no going back.”

Mr Judge said the action group would “continue to fight the good fight” and call on the state government to amend the planning proposal and resume ownership of the land containing the educational buildings.

“There 40 building on the site that could be repurposed for public education and its going to take some vision on our current government to look ahead 10 or 15 years to see how the site could meet the needs of generations to come.”

Artist impression for the proposed Mirvac development at the Milperra campus of WSU

Liberal councillor Charbel Abouraad said the Labor government had “misled the people of Milperra”.

“This confirms they don’t care about retaining the Milperra site as an educational facility, rather their sole aim was to garner as many votes to form government, knowing that the seat of East Hills is the most marginal seat in the state,” Mr Abouraad said.

This comes after Mr Abouraad’s motion at last month’s meeting for council to write to Education Minister Prue Car was amended by Labor councillor Linda Downey.

The Mirvac plans will include 430 homes and a town centre

Cr Downey’s amended motion called for council to write to Prue Car to instead investigate the feasibility of retaining some of the former Milperra Western Sydney University site for a secondary high school.

Cr Abouraad said his motion was ‘hijacked’ by Cr Downey and Labor councillors.

“The watering down of my motion by Cr Downey to “investigating the feasibility that some of the land is retained for education purposes” further illustrates that Labor never really wanted to retain the site for education purposes,” he said.

Canterbury-Bankstown Council have firmly opposed the demolition of the site, with former mayor Khal Asfour saying council had no role in the campus closure.