The discussion comes as the State Government unveiled its second release of asset sales last week, identifying 20 parcels of land including the East Perth site expected to raise $250 million.
Perth MHR Alannah MacTiernan said with a strong demand for a public school in the area, the site should be considered.
‘There has been an influx of families back to the city over the past 20 years,’ Ms MacTiernan said.
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READ NOW‘I am not opposed to it being privately used, but we need to look at the situation for high school students in Perth.
‘We need a proper public assessment of the numbers of government high school students before we sell off critical infrastructure.”
Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said a public school would be a positive development.
‘A new school could act as an incentive for families to relocate to the city as the absence of such a facility has probably been a factor in decisions about where to live,’ Ms Scaffidi said. ‘We have two prestigious private schools in Trinity and Mercedes Colleges and a public school would provide another option.’
Ms Scaffidi said the Education Department would consider an inner-city school as priority if student numbers stacked up.
Perth MLA Eleni Evangel said the historic and heritage values of the former police headquarters had to be retained in any redevelopment. ‘I think this announcement presents an opportunity to invigorate idle, underutilised key city sites,’ Ms Evangel said
‘Yes, there is definitely strong demand on current Perth electorate schools driven by a growing inner city residential population, particularly at the lower school levels i.e. kindy and pre primary.
‘If we were to look at new sites, the old Leederville primary school site, currently long distance education, would make more sense in my opinion as the building and location directly behind Leederville Oval.’