A Trojan horse and the “beginning of the end” of an era for Hurlstone Agricultural High School at Glenfield is how one local MP has described a development application set to go before the Sydney South West Planning Panel on Monday (10 July).

Member for Macquarie Fields, Anoulack Chanthivong MP, will address the Panel to outline his fierce and consistent opposition to the proposal, which he says will lead to the “full-scale carve up and destruction of Hurlstone and its farm at Glenfield”. 

“This development application cannot – and must not – be considered in isolation. To divorce this application from the Government’s overall plans for Hurlstone is naïve and ill-informed,” Mr Chanthivong said.

“I fully support upgrades to public schools, but the application before the Panel is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A few buildings demolished here, a few additions there – that’s what this Government would have you believe this application is all about.

“But instead, it marks the start of Hurlstone’s incremental demise at Glenfield, and this Government has set the wheels in motion. It has also deliberately separated this application from the rest of its plans for the Hurlstone site because this application is a Trojan horse.

“Should this application be approved, it will be the beginning of the end of Hurlstone at Glenfield and a sad day for our community. Like a game of dominoes, there will be no stopping the chain reaction that will follow – gone will be the school and its heritage and gone will be our vital green open space.

“When the bulldozers turn the first sod of earth, it will all be too late. This Liberal Government is obsessed with selling every public asset, and the Hurlstone farm is no exception. I will not stand by and let our precious green open be destroyed; nor will I allow the Government’s continuous spin to dupe us into believing we are getting a better outcome. The truth is we are not. Hands off Hurlstone!”

In late 2015, the Liberal Government announced that the Hurlstone farm would be sold to make way for up to 10,000 homes and the school would be moved to the Hawkesbury in a deal with Western Sydney University. Mr Chanthivong has been fighting to save the Hurlstone farm and retain the school at Glenfield ever since.