Labor Leaves Kids And Teachers Sweltering At School

Media Release | 3 February 2026

Liam Staltari MLA
Shadow Minister for Education;
Early Childhood; Disability Services; Heritage

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Students and teachers in WA’s public schools have returned to classrooms in extreme
heat, with reports of broken, inadequate and failing air-conditioning from day one.

With the Perth metropolitan area recording maximum temperatures yesterday around
42 °C, classrooms that should have been safe and comfortable were instead
unbearable for many students and staff.

Shadow Education Minister Liam Staltari said his office had been flooded with calls from
angry parents who’d expressed concern and disappointment at broken-down air-conditioning units on a very hot start of school.

The calls back up figures obtained by the Opposition that show the number of
maintenance requests for broken air-conditioning in WA’s public schools has nearly
doubled in just two years — rising from 5,662 in 2023 to 10,409 in 2025.

Mr Staltari said he’d received reports of students becoming unwell, being sent home
early or classes being moved to cooler areas of schools, such as libraries, in a
desperate attempt to escape the heat.

“This situation was a predictable result of the Cook Labor Government’s chronic under-investment and failure to deliver on its own election promises to upgrade school air-conditioning,” Mr Staltari said.

“No child should be expected to learn, and no teacher expected to teach, in unbearable
heat.

“Air-conditioning is a basic requirement for WA classrooms – particularly during the
summer months – and my office has been flooded with reports from frustrated parents
and teachers who were welcomed back by broken or portable air-conditioners in their
classrooms.”

Mr Staltari said this reality jarred with the original promise of the Government’s much-touted Cool the Schools program.

“At election time, Roger Cook promised to upgrade the air-conditioning in 45 WA
schools – but a year on, only three of those schools have received those upgrades,” he
said.

“To add insult to injury, the Government has funded less than half of the $89 million to
deliver the upgrades over the forward estimates – giving those schools and many others
no confidence that they will have respite any time soon.”

“It says everything about this Government’s wrong priorities that the first day of school
saw the Government break ground on its Burswood Racetrack while teachers and
students languished in hot classrooms.”

Quotes from parents:

“My kids arrived back at school on day one and it was stinking hot before the bell had
even rung. How can they learn in that environment. It’s 2026, our P&C shouldn’t have to
rattle the tin to pay for something as basic as air-conditioning. It’s the Government’s job
and they’re not doing it.”

Sam, a parent at Woodlands Primary School

“We’ve got one area that can fit our kids, parents and teachers for assembly – and it’s a
sauna every time we meet. The school had to move the local OSH out of there because
the kids were just melting before and after school. It’s the same with a number of the
classrooms too. Our teachers go above and beyond teaching our kids, surely we can at
least support them with a bit of cool air.”

Ben, a parent at Poynter Primary School

“My daughter is a teacher … and frankly her job is hard enough even without asking her
to do it under these kinds of conditions. Children can’t learn, and in such heat, it’s even
a matter of health and safety.”

Ann, from Padbury on ABC radio

Parents’ phone numbers are available for further comment via Media Contact.

ENDS
Contact: Liam Staltari – 0449 010 767

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