By Noel Towell and Gemma Grant
A group of Melbourne parents say their bayside state primary school is crumbling into disrepair and being neglected by the Victorian government because it sits in an affluent Liberal-held electorate.
The long-running maintenance issues at the 150-year-old Brighton Primary School came to a head this year when the floors in four classrooms and a student bathroom had to be ripped out after being eaten by termites.
School council president Aaron Stead (left) with families at Brighton Primary School.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
The school’s 500-plus students are learning in 50-year-old demountable classrooms just metres away from a busy train line, collapsing brick walls are creating no-go zones and the campus has been refused grant funding to replace its 30-year-old playground for three years running.
The school council says parents believe the school is being overlooked by the state Labor government because it is in an affluent suburb and a Liberal political stronghold. The party’s local state MP described the situation as “reprehensible”.
The Victorian Schools Building Authority (VSBA) said it responded promptly to maintenance issues at Brighton Primary and that it was supporting the school to ensure student and staff safety.
But school council president Aaron Stead said maintenance has been underfunded for decades, despite it being one of just four government schools in metropolitan Melbourne to offer specialist teaching to deaf children.
A students’ bathroom area at Brighton Primary School.
“Where the school has really struggled for the last few decades in getting any funding from the government is capital infrastructure,” Stead said.
“We’ve got 14 demountables or portables that are up to 50 years old, they’re in various states of disrepair, they’re under-sized for current learning standards, the number of students you can get into them is not what’s recommended by the state government.”
An analysis by The Age of $17 million in new maintenance funding announced in April for 50 schools shows that about 62 per cent of the money went to schools in Labor electorates and 34 per cent to schools in Coalition-held districts.
Labor holds 63 per cent of seats in state parliament’s lower house and the Coalition holds 34 per cent.
Stead said that up to four classrooms were rendered unusable and repaired this year because of rotten or termite-eaten floors and that children at the junior school building couldn’t use the bathroom after the floor had to be removed.
With the two 19th-century main school buildings “in various states” of disrepair, Stead said frustrated parents had concluded their school was being neglected because there was no political upside for a Labor government in funding repairs and maintenance.
“You look at the state government’s talk at the moment of excellence in every classroom and every student, regardless of background, having access to high-quality education,” the school council president said.
“It just seems that the 3186 postcode is not a part of that.”
Shadow treasurer James Newbury, the Liberal MP for Brighton, said students were being taught in substandard buildings and demountables as a direct result of their neighbourhood’s political leanings.
“How can the Labor government ignore the floors of classrooms and bathrooms as they rot through, simply because the school is in a Liberal-held electorate?” Newbury said.
“School funding should be based on need. Instead it’s based on politics, which is reprehensible.
“The minister for education needs to personally step in and address the urgent needs of the school immediately.”
A classroom at the school where the floor was eaten away by termites.
The government has announced planned maintenance funding in seven tranches over the past two years for 600 of Victoria’s 1570 state schools, but Brighton Primary does not make the list.
But Brighton Secondary College, also in Newbury’s electorate, received $615,000 for maintenance in February’s funding round.
A government spokesperson hit back at suggestions of political bias.
“We won’t be lectured by the Liberals, who let schools crumble and decay as they slashed $1 billion from education when they were last in government,” the spokesperson said.
“This year alone, we invested $1.5 billion to upgrade, modernise and expand our schools. We’re investing in schools across the state – including at Brighton Primary School, which received more than $200,000 in 2025.” That money wasn’t part of the $17 million in planned maintenance funding announced in April.
The government also defended the VSBA’s performance at the school.
“Following the discovery of termite damage in one classroom, the Department of Education acted immediately to ensure the safety of students and staff,” the spokesperson said.
“The affected flooring was promptly removed and will be replaced.”
The government also said the school had classrooms to accommodate all students, teaching had not been disrupted and that the department’s “make safe team” was on the scene within three hours of being notified of the problems with the floors.
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