The Lyneham school community has been campaigning for a new gym for several years. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
An inquiry has revealed that a decision on whether a new gym would be built at Lyneham High School was only made shortly before the 2024/25 budget, despite public perceptions that plans for the project had been progressing for several years.
Ahead of the 2020 election, ACT Labor promised to replace Lyneham High School’s gym; however, it would later commit to upgrading the existing gym instead.
As part of the upgrades, $5.746 million was pledged in the 2024/25 budget towards the project.
Earlier this year, the government announced the Standing Committee on Social Policy would hold an inquiry into the decision.
On Tuesday (4 November), former principal Rob Emanuel stated that discussions with the ACT Education Directorate during his tenure from 2018 to 2021 indicated that a new gym was being considered, citing early design work for the project.
He also said that even though student numbers had dipped slightly in the past few years, that didn’t change issues with the gym’s functionality.
Mr Emanuel said those issues (such as balls landing in the roofing because the ceiling was too low and teachers needing to modify games to fit the space) wouldn’t be solved with an upgrade.
“The whole discussion around enrolment numbers is a distraction … [The students] aren’t getting their education in fit-for-purpose facilities,” he said.
That the gym wasn’t meeting student demand was echoed by former school captain Shasta Bignell, who said the government’s change of heart “undermined my trust” in politics.
He launched an e-petition, in part, calling for the planned new gym to be built and for the existing facility to be converted into classrooms. The petition received 562 signatures.
Mr Bignell told the inquiry that information about a potential new gym had spread through the student body via word of mouth.
Lyneham High School P&C president José Robertson also called on ACT Labor to stick to what he saw as their initial promise.
“I’ll say this – if I went to a hotel and they offered me an upgrade to my room, I wouldn’t be expecting to wait for two years while they remove the asbestos from the room, re-paint and put a new floor in.
“What I would be expecting was a new room right then, a bigger room [and] one that suited my purposes.”
He claimed there had been limited engagement with the ACT Education Directorate since a June 2024 letter that outlined plans for a refurbishment.
Mr Robertson described Minister for Education and Childhood Learning Yvette Berry as being “slightly obsessed with this word upgrade and what it means”.
He also argued that the government should consider how a newer facility could be loaned out to third-party community groups and sporting organisations.
During the hearing, Ms Berry acknowledged the community’s campaign for the new gym.
“I think we all recognise that that’s what the petitioner wanted and that perhaps was the understanding of some of the people in the school community.
“That’s not the decision the government took, and I know that’s disappointing to everyone … It’s not a political decision, it’s a decision based on data and evidence, and based on need as well.”
She said hire fees would only cover “minor maintenance and cleaning”, and that there were multiple factors that needed to be considered when evaluating the need for new school infrastructure.
Minister Yvette Berry has acknowledged shortfalls in the government’s handling of the planning process. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Acting executive group manager of strategic policy at the ACT Education Directorate Michael Crowther said demographic changes and slowing enrolments had raised questions about the need for a new gym with extra capacity.
“There was an expectation that the growth of the inner north would continue … The initial thought around how continued growth [in student demand] was not bearing out in the data and the advice we provided to government.”
The inquiry also heard that the design work was presented to the cabinet, but the option of a new gym was only ever one of several options being considered.
ACT Parents criticised the decision to launch an inquiry that focused on a single school.
The peak body representing more than 60,000 ACT public school parents was not invited to appear at the inquiry.
In a statement, it called on the ACT Government to ensure fair and transparent planning across the public school system, rather than focusing on individual issues.
“Every ACT public school student deserves safe, modern and fit-for-purpose facilities – not just those whose school communities can campaign the hardest,” said executive officer Veronica Elliott.
“An inquiry into one project won’t fix the broader problems. The government needs to make infrastructure decisions based on equity and system-wide need.”
