The New South Wales government is buying back a high school site it sold off more than 20 years ago as surplus to requirements – in the middle of the federal seat of Bennelong, where a federal byelection is being held in 16 days’ time.
The state government declined to say how much it will pay for the Masters Warehouse site. It now has an option to buy the site, which was sold to Woolworths in 2013 for more than $30m.
The byelection is crucial because a loss by the Liberals would put at risk the Turnbull government’s slim majority, and potentially its hold on government.
It was prompted by the resignation of the Liberal MP John Alexander, who discovered he was an British citizen by decent. He is recontesting the seat, having renounced his dual citizenship, but is facing a strong challenge from the former Labor premier of NSW, Kristina Keneally.
Local communities have been complaining about overcrowded schools for several years and last year the NSW government announced it was reopening another shuttered school at Ryde as a new primary school. The new high school will open at the site of the old Peter Board high, which was attended by the Liberal premier, Gladys Berejiklian.
The Macquarie Park area has been earmarked by the NSW government for a further 8,400 homes, which are expected to add 16,340 residents to its population.
This is the second major announcement of spending on infrastructure in the Bennelong electorate. Last week the federal and NSW governments announced plans to spend $100m on a new transport interchange at Macquarie Park.
Announcing the project the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said the joint project was “a game changer for peak-hour commuters who travel to and from Macquarie Park every day”.
But until last week the project did not rate a mention on the NSW government’s Future Transport 2056 site, which claims to be the NSW government’s blueprint for transport.
The transport minister, Andrew Constance, previously ruled the project was too expensive, despite lobbying from the council.
The buyback of the school will be particularly sweet for Berejiklian, who had a political coming out of sorts when at 15 she campaigned against her high school, Ryde high, closing in 1985.
She then moved to North Ryde high, later renamed Peter Board high. It was closed in 1998 by a Labor government under premier Bob Carr.
The NSW minister for education, Rob Stokes, and the local state Liberal member, Victor Dominello, refused to say what the government will pay for the school site.
The NSW government sold the site in 2006 for $51m to Dexus Property Group. Dexus sold a portion on Wicks Road to Woolworths in 2013 for $30m, for use as a Masters Hardware store, but part of the site is also leased as a playing field to Ryde Hunters Hill district hockey club. The future of the field is unclear.
