The Liberal candidate for the seat of Kororoit, Goran Kesic, has promised to donate six months’ salary – about $70,000 – towards building a new secondary school in Derrimut.
“I’d like to make a pledge. If I win in the forthcoming state election, I will donate half of my annual salary towards building a new secondary school in Derrimut,” he said.
Mr Kesic said it was his way of giving back to the community and taxpayers, who ultimately pay his salary.
He said he had received “many” emails from Derrimut residents expressing concerns at not having a secondary school in the suburb.
Derrimut currently has two primary schools, and a number of early learning centres.
Mr Kesic said it put a lot of pressure on families to travel to other suburbs for a secondary school, especially with local traffic.
“I’m really passionate about schools,” Mr Kesic said.
“It’s extremely important to have at least one secondary school in Derrimut. Parents spend an hour in the morning to get prepared earlier to get [their children] to a school in another area.”
Mr Kesic said among his priorities was building better infrastructure and tackling traffic issues in and around Derrimut.
“The infrastructure is shocking there,” he said. “It’s not adequate, we have lots of bottlenecks and railway crossings and this should be taken care of.
“If I win I will push for the railway crossing down Station Road to be replaced or to be underground to get rid of that bottleneck in the morning. We can’t afford bottlenecks.”
Mr Kesic, a linguist who lives in Caroline Springs, said he was also passionate about tackling the Boral tip issues and improving health for his electorate and other electorates.
