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New parent group established

New parent group established
Sean Car

Just in case further proof was needed to show how desperately the area needs a primary school, a new parents group has started in Southbank.

The group is the brainchild of Igor Glavanic who decided it was time the parents of Southbank had a collective voice to strengthen their standing in the community.

The group was initially organised as a playgroup for their children, but as the parents started sharing their experiences of living with a family in Southbank they realized they all faced similar issues, and it was time to stand up and have those issues heard.

“It is really just a group of parents we know. Through the childcare we met more parents and they all had the same issues,” Mr
Glavanic said.

The group plans to become a voice for all parents in the Southbank area, ensure their needs are at least heard and to advocate for a more parent and kid friendly suburb.

“This (the lack of a primary school) is a very important issue to us because we live here and there’s nothing here,” Mr Glavanic said.

He said it was easier for governments to establish schools in other growth suburbs because land was far easier to come by, and that a school in Southbank was going to need initiative and creativity from authorities.

“Can we go and look at other countries and look at how they’re doing it? There are suburbs in Sydney, suburbs in Brisbane and suburbs in Adelaide with these same problems. Are we doing something fundamentally wrong when establishing these inner-city suburbs?” Mr Glavanic questions.

He also suggested that ideas around inner-city apartment living had changed, saying: “I think 10 years ago the authorities thought professionals would live here, then once they were ready for a family move out. Well it’s not happening, I certainly have no plans of moving.”

The group knows the primary school dilemma is not going away anytime soon, and Mr Glavanic knows simply rezoning won’t be enough.

“You can rezone these other schools, but if there’s no room to fit more kids in any of them, where do we go from there?”

He stressed that this wasn’t a matter for politically point scoring, saying: “To be completely a-political there’s the issue, now lets fix it.”

“Who’s got the vision to say in 30 years we’ll have 74,000 people here but what about amenities for these people. We’ll need an ambulance and a police station. How many schools will we need? How many shops? All of these things need to be considered,” Mr Glavanic said.

“If we are thinking the issue will go away, we’re being foolish.”

If you are interested in joining the parents group or want to find out more information on these issues email Igor [email protected]

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