By XAVIER SMERDON
THE future of one of Wyndham’s biggest eyesores remains in limbo with the Minister for Education Martin Dixon’s department refusing to release documents relating to the former Glen Devon Primary School.
In response to a Freedom of Information application from Member for Tarneit Tim Pallas, the Department of Education said it had in its possession both a business case for the retention of the site and a cost benefit analysis, as well as a draft Departmental briefing and a draft discussion paper from Wyndham Council.
The Department refused to release the documents however, saying that they were “pre-decisional and could lead to ill-informed public debate”.
The school was destroyed by fire in November 2011 after being closed following its merger with Glen Orden Primary School in Werribee.
Since the fire the school has sat desolate and has been repeatedly targeted by vandals and squatters, leading the Werribee Fire Brigade to warn about further risks posed by the building sitting vacant.
Mr Pallas said the Wyndham community was demanding answers following more than a year of inaction from the State Government.
“Minister Dixon clearly has information in his possession, but the affected community is not allowed to see it, based on the somewhat ridiculous view that providing more information to the public will make them less informed,” Mr Pallas said.
“So instead the public are told nothing. This gives a whole new meaning to freedom of information.”
A spokesperson for Mr Dixon did not answer questions about when residents would find out what would happen to the site but did say that the Department of Education was still considering its options for its future.
“A proposal by the Wyndham City Council, for a Community Education Hub, is before the Minister for consideration,” the spokesperson said.
“The Department assesses Freedom of Information requests in line with the Freedom of Information Act 1982. The business case is an internal working document for the Department and therefore exempt from the Act.”
Mr Pallas said it was not fair to withhold information from residents who have to live near the abandoned site.
“One year on and the Minister has not been able to come to a decision, while residents in the surrounding streets must endure every day the growing levels of garbage being dumped, the increasingly dilapidated buildings and security concerns of an abandoned set of buildings near their homes,” he said.
“The Wyndham Community deserves to know what will happen to this site, which if acted on immediately could have become a valuable community resource. Because of the harm that has now been done to the area by Minister Dixon’s dithering, the Wyndham community also deserves to know why it has taken so long to review the advice and make a decision.”
