I am pleased to share with the House that just yesterday staff and students from Liverpool West Public School returned to their campus on the corner of Hoxton Park Road and Flowerdale Road. This follows weeks of extensive remediation works after a piece of bonded asbestos was discovered in the newly developed part of the school in February. Liverpool West Public School was first identified as a potential site for contamination on Friday 9 February. Assessors were sent onsite first thing Saturday morning, with a sample returning a positive result on Sunday afternoon. Although this was a small piece of bonded asbestos found in mulch in the new landscaping and therefore an extremely low risk to those onsite, the decision was made to suspend onsite school operations out of an abundance of caution. This decision was not taken lightly. We are talking about children; their safety trumps all.

What began as a couple of days of home learning evolved into a huge undertaking. It turned out that contaminated mulch had been used not just for top dressing on the garden beds at Liverpool West but also for fill, meaning that much larger remediation works were required at the campus than first anticipated. It became clear that students and staff would have to remain offsite for perhaps weeks. Families in Liverpool experienced firsthand the disruption of extended periods of virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, extended at‑home learning impacts parents' ability to get to work, and many families simply do not possess the necessary technology to do this for an indefinite period. It was clear that the families of Liverpool West simply could not afford a return to those days.

The Department of Education sprang into action to find another solution—enter Gulyangarri Public School. Gulyangarri Public School is a brand-new primary school in the Liverpool CBD. It backs onto the site of Liverpool Boys High School and Liverpool Girls High School, soon to be a brand-new co-educational high school for 2,000 students. Gulyangarri offered to host the relocation of Liverpool West during the remediation works. Thus, students and staff moved to Gulyangarri starting on Monday 18 March. That arrangement prioritised the health of our students and staff, ensuring that disruption to learning was kept to a minimum.

To move a school of over 600 pupils in the space of a week was no small task, and it was a massive credit to the strength of our public education system. I put to the House that this could not be done in some of our private schools. Only through a collaborative and connected public department was this outcome possible. I pay tribute to the many staff, ably led by Secretary Murat Dizdar, for their tireless work during this uncertain time. I also acknowledge Acting Director, Educational Leadership, Olimpia Bartolillo, and Deputy Secretary for Public Schools, Deb Summerhayes, for their work locally.

It is also an endorsement of community spirit in Liverpool. I pay tribute to the students, parents and staff at Gulyangarri, led by Principal Ian Tapuska, for being so welcoming to Liverpool West during their stay. The principal of Liverpool West, Lucy Martin, and the staff, parents and students of Liverpool West deserve particular appreciation. From the student leadership team creating a video tour of Gulyangarri to make the transition easier for their peers to the many other initiatives that demonstrated the true mettle of all, it was inspiring to see. I am so proud to represent these amazing people in this place.

On the first day of these altered learning arrangements, the Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car, and the secretary of the Department of Education, Murat Dizdar, and I paid a visit to the students, parents and staff of Liverpool West and Gulyangarri. It was helpful to hear directly from parents. Although there was uncertainty, they were adjusting well to the new arrangements. I spoke with a mother who had conducted a trial run of her new school drop-off route the previous day. I even heard from a parent at Gulyangarri that her child had just moved from Liverpool West Public School this year, only to be joined by friends from his former school some weeks later.

The arrangement continued for four weeks, until the green light was given for Liverpool West to return home. That was only after extensive work was undertaken to remove all the contaminated mulch and full clearance was obtained from an independent hygienist. Works are continuing onsite to reinstate landscaping materials over the coming weeks. Now that the Liverpool West community is able to return to campus, the focus turns to how this was able to happen. I acknowledge the establishment of the asbestos taskforce by the Minister for the Environment to assist the Environment Protection Authority with its investigation. I look forward to the results of the investigation so that this will never be allowed to happen again.