The parents aired their grievances to upper house leader Bev McArthur and Liberal education spokesman Brad Rowswell on Monday afternoon at the 8ha site on the corner of Sovereign Drive and Boundary Rd in Mount Duneed that in 2012 was earmarked as the site of a new secondary school.
South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman pledged $1m for a business case just prior to the 2022 state election.
The state government remains vague about its plans, frustrating local families who say Mr Cheeseman has gone “into hiding”.
Mum-of-two Sherryn Vessey said parents had spent more than a decade lobbying the government to build a school that many of their children would now never get a chance to attend.
“Darren Cheeseman is our state representative and he’s basically been in hiding since (2022),” he said.
“You’ve got lots of young families that moved into the area hoping for the high school to be built and they’ve all now pretty much finished their schooling.
“So with the state election later this year, we are again advocating to both the Labor and Liberal candidates, and anyone else in-between, to discuss the proposed site for the high school and acquiring that site to begin construction.”
Education Minister Ben Carroll, during a visit to the region last month, said the feasibility study remained a work in progress.
“It’s being undertaken,” he said.
Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj late last year said he was snubbed by Mr Carroll after he requested an update on the project.
Mr Kontelj said he would support the community in putting the promised school front and centre during the election campaign.
“The need is increasing and the urgency is increasing,” he said.
Ms McArthur invited Mr Rowswell, Sandringham MP since 2018, to hear directly from parents who had made “important life decisions influenced by the promise of a local secondary school that hasn’t materialised”.
“Providing adequate, accessible education should be the most basic function of the state government,” she said.
Mr Rowswell said if a feasibility study was in fact underway, “at what point do they plan to engage the local community to contribute because at the minute the local communities that I met with today have heard sweet nothing”.
A state government spokeswoman said it had invested $1m to plan for a future secondary college that would cater for the Mount Duneed and Armstrong Creek community.
Mr Cheeseman was contacted for comment.
Article: Geelong Advertiser by Lucy Crock and Luke Griffiths, 23 Feb 2026
