The immigration-driven population boom in Sydney – which has added 845,000 people (20%) to Sydney’s population over the past 12 years and is projected to increase Sydney’s population by 87,000 people a year over the next 20 years – is the gift that keeps on giving.
Back in December 2016 and January 2017 (here and here), The ABC reported that Sydney’s public schools are suffering from chronic over-crowding as they struggle to keep pace with rampant population growth.
And in June, the Daily Telegraph reported that Sydney’s schools will be flooded with thousands of extra students, requiring 50 new schools to be built over the next two decades to cope with the influx, mostly in the city’s west.
In September, the Daily Telegraph reported that Southwest Sydney schools are bursting under the sustained population deluge, with Chester Hill High School (25 demountable classrooms), Bonnyrigg Heights Public School (23 demountable classrooms), Bonnyrigg High School (22 demountable classrooms), as well as Fairvale High School and Dalmeny Public School (both 20 demountables) all struggling to squeeze extra students in.
And of course on Tuesday, MB reported that NSW has actually lost 18 public schools over the past five years at the same time as school enrollments surged by 70,000!
Just when you thought the situation could not get any worse, The Daily Telegraph yesterday reported that a NSW schools audit has discovered a $500 million maintenance backlog:
ONE government high school needs more than $3 million in repairs and almost 60 others have a maintenance backlog of $1 million or more, new audit figures show…
The audit compiled by the NSW Department of Education shows a blitz on school maintenance has slashed the backlog by $205 million to $570 million over the last 18 months.
Most of the non-urgent work is in roof upgrades, floor covering and painting but 58 schools need more than $1 million of work spent to bring them up to scratch…
Labor has accused the state government of neglecting public schools by failing to eliminate maintenance backlogs that could take years to fix…
Remember, the NSW Government’s own population projections have Sydney’s population ballooning by more than 1.7 million people over the next 20 years on the back of mass immigration:
Whereas the Grattan Institute estimates that NSW will require 213 new schools by 2026 to cope with a projected 175,000 (14%) surge in students:
Where is the schools investment required to keep pace with the population influx when the State Government can’t even fund existing schools? Clearly, the overcrowding across Sydney’s schools is going to get much worse.
All of this, yet again, highlights Australia’s dysfunctional population ponzi in action.
The federal government’s mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ policy has committed to an intake of around 210,000 permanent migrants a year ad infinitum:
These extra migrants – which overwhelmingly will choose to settle in Sydney and Melbourne – will need basic services like schooling, not to mention additional economic infrastructure and housing.
Let’s also not forget that the Turnbull Government recently relaxed visa rules to allow 6 year-old foreign students and their guardians visa entry into Australia’s primary schools, thus adding to the crush-loading.
Former NSW Treasury boss, Percy Allen, had the right idea when he noted the following in April:
The Australian government is fiscally broke. It’s running a huge budget deficit that is adding to its interest bill…
To alleviate demand pressure on social services, education and health the government should halve the permanent immigration intake.
To avoid any racist overtones the humanitarian component should be expanded. Significantly slowing Australia’s population growth would also reduce pressure on house prices, city congestion and stagnant wages.
Exactly. The NSW Government should tap the federal government on the shoulder and demand that it lower the immigration intake, in turn relieving pressure on public services, infrastructure and housing.
Why not seek to remove the demand pressures causing the overcrowding in the first place? It’s a no-brainer.
