A message from the Principal

Australian Grands Prix Amendment Bill

Many of our families would have seen the announcement on Monday of this week around a proposed amendment to the Australian Grands Prix Act 1994.

Since 1996, when the Grand Prix began in Albert Park each March, our school has been impacted by the event with an increase in noise, visitors and a (thankfully brief) loss of access to open space due to event parking. In acknowledgement of this, the school receives compensation from the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and in 2025, this amount was $16,915.

The proposed amendments that are now being put forward are to:

Extend the race period from 7 days to up to 21 days, with options for public and tenant access to Albert Park during this time
Address changes in Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s (AGPC’s) insignia and intellectual property
Increase the legislated payment to Parks Victoria (PV)
Enable AGPC to host non-motor sport events
Improve corporate governance settings.

The Victorian Government plans to introduce the Bill into Parliament soon, and it is proposed to commence before the 2026 Grand Prix.

In practical terms we have been informed that the changes mean that the government is planning to extend the race period from 7 days to up to 21 days, allowing essential works to occur for the Grand Prix within a controlled environment and, from the 2026 Grand Prix, it is proposed that:

parts of Albert Park will be closed to the public for up to 21 days
most sporting club tenants and businesses can still access Albert Park for the additional (up to) 14 days through special arrangements with the AGPC
some businesses and sports clubs near Albert Park Lake will close for the additional (up to) 14 days.

We have been told that, in most instances, a majority of tenants will not be any further impacted by the extended race period.

Whilst SKiPPS is not officially classed as a tenant of the Park, our school and wider community are closely connected to, and reliant on the park for sports lessons, events, break times and routes to and from school each day. This has been the case for 143 years.

We also know that many of our families use the park heavily for exercise and recreation and are members of sports clubs that operate in the park.

We are not yet clear on how the proposed amendments will impact on our school operations during the Grand Prix and, on Monday afternoon, Elisa Webb (our School Council President) and myself will be meeting with a representative of the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions, the government body responsible for this bill.

We will be seeking to better understand how the school will be impacted by the changes and whether we see any increase in disruption to school operations or a further loss of access to the park. We will also ask whether the changes might come with an increase to the compensation amount paid to the school each year.

If any parents or carers have any questions or concerns specific to how the bill will impact upon the school, I encourage you to contact Elisa or myself prior to Monday. Our email addresses are

At next Wednesday's School Council meeting, we will provide feedback from this meeting and share the information that we receive. It will then be up to School Council to decide what further steps, requests or representations (if any) the school will make.

As always, all parents and carers are welcome to attend our School Council meetings to hear this information first-hand. Our meeting will begin the the school staffroom at 6:30pm.

If any families would like further information about this matter or wish to provide feedback directly to the government on the proposed amendments (that perhaps are not directly related to the school's operations but the impact on your own lives) then they are encouraged to do this via the 'Engage Victoria' website on the link below.

We will provide a further update to the community in the coming weeks, once School Council knows more and has discussed the matter.

Neil Scott

Principal