Media Release | 31 August 2026
Liam Staltari MLA
Shadow Minister for Education;
Early Childhood; Disability Services
WA students and teachers face another summer in sweltering classrooms, with new figures revealing the Cook Labor Government has completed air-conditioning upgrades at just five of the 45 schools selected for its ‘Cool the Schools’ program.
Answers obtained by the Opposition in State Parliament confirm that, as at the start of Term 3, only five schools had been fully delivered under the program in the 18 months since the State Election.
Freedom of Information documents reveal the consequences of that failure, detailing three consecutive summers of air-conditioning breakdowns at Malvern Springs Primary School in Ellenbrook, where classroom temperatures reached 39 to 40 degrees.
In February 2024, around 50 students were sent home early when the school’s airconditioning failed to cope with a heatwave.
A year later, the school was forced to plead with the Department of Education for portable air-conditioners during the opening weeks of the 2025 school year.
The documents also record repeated air-conditioning failures, mould issues across all three years and an acknowledgement from Department staff that the maintenance system was struggling to keep up. Shadow Education Minister Liam Staltari said the revelations showed years of neglect and underinvestment in basic school infrastructure.
“Summer is fast approaching and too many WA students and teachers are facing another season of sweltering classrooms,” Mr Staltari said.
“What happened at Malvern Springs is unacceptable – students being sent home, classes disrupted and a school forced to beg the Department for portable airconditioners just to get through the heat.
“And Malvern Springs is not an isolated case.
“Schools across WA are stuck with ageing and inadequate air-conditioning, while the Government hides behind technical specifications instead of dealing with the obvious reality that classrooms reaching 40 degrees are simply not acceptable.
“Labor promised to ‘Cool the Schools’, but 18 months later it has finished upgrades at just five of the 45 schools selected for the program.
“At this pace, another summer will come and go while students and teachers are left to sweat it out.
“The Cook Labor Government can fast-track its pet projects, but when it comes to providing kids with a safe and comfortable classroom, everything seems to move at a snail’s pace.”
Media Contact: Graham Mason – 0419 194 792
