While opening the Mount Gambier Skills Centre last Thursday, Education Minister Blaire Boyer gave an update on the Mount Gambier Technical College which is planned to open by the 2026 school year.

The facility will be co-located at the Mount Gambier TAFE and University of South Australia Campus as part of an election promise by the Labor Government.

The Technical College will cater for students from Year 10 to 12 and will be run in conjunction with nearby high schools to allow students to complete their SACE while also getting trade qualifications.

“One of the commitments we made is around what we do with this site … is that we’re going to build the tech college here, one of the five that has been announced for the state,” he said.

“The planning on the tech college is very well progressed as well and it is generally exciting.

“As someone who went to a public school just across the border, I am particularly excited about the tech college because it looks like – and I hope I’m not belling the cat here – but it looks like we’ll be building accommodation as part of it.

“I do not think the South Australian public education system has built accommodation for probably 50 years.

“It will mean that what we build here is not just for Mount Gambier kids, it will actually be for Limestone Coast kids.

“We want what we build here to be used not just by people who live nearby but by people from the whole region as well and we’re making good on that.”