A Medowie mum has fronted an NSW Parliamentary review to advocate for a desperately-needed public high school in her town.

Marnie Coates appeared before the Inquiry into Planning and Delivery of School Infrastructure in NSW on Wednesday, stating the current situation was unfair for local students and families.

Medowie is a rapidly growing suburb in Port Stephens, with a projected population of 17,500 people by 2036.

But, currently, the town only boasts two public primary facilities, with combined enrolments of 1,000 pupils, a private Christian K-12 College and a new state-of-the-art Catholic high school.

Ms Coates, a chemical engineer, told the Inquiry she was a passionate campaigner for public education – and a proud product of public education herself.

“We bus more than a thousand students out of our suburbs to high school every day,” she said.

“And, some of them are travelling over two hours per day on buses… just to get to school.

“However, despite being promised a public high school over the past four decades, we’re still no closer to fruition.

“There’s a thousand properties presently approved and under construction.

“Port Stephens Council predicts that by 2036, there’ll be an additional 7,000 dwellings in Medowie.

“Besides that, the surrounding satellite suburbs that would logically be zoned for a Medowie High School are also rapidly expanding.

“The land has been purchased (as far back as 1983) and we’ve had various assurances but nothing’s been delivered to date.”

The Hon Courtney Houssos MLC, a member of the parliamentary committee, said during the hearing: “The Catholic system and the independent system have acknowledged there’s a need, and they’ve stepped in, but it’s the public school system that isn’t providing local options for parents,” she stated.

“You have a clear need, you have a site, you’ve had consistent promises from the government, but they’ve completely failed to deliver.”

Port Stephens state MP Kate Washington praised Ms Coates for her appearance before the Inquiry as well as her written submission.

“It’s not often local residents are willing to appear before a Parliamentary Inquiry and fight for their local community,” she said.

“But, that’s exactly what Marnie has done today – and she did us all proud.

“The current situation is not fair.

“Marnie was speaking for thousands of families across Medowie, the Tilligerry Peninsula, Karuah, Williamtown and Salt Ash, who desperately want a public school in Medowie.”

During her testimony, Ms Coates rejected the government’s plan to expand the two public high schools in Raymond Terrace instead of building a new one in Medowie.

“Any expansion won’t even meet the current projected growth, so we’re going to end up with a bad situation for our kids,” she said.

“I can only assume, from a financial perspective, that it’s cheaper for the government to stick a few more classrooms onto those schools than it is to properly plan the infrastructure that’s needed for Medowie.”

Ms Washington agreed with Ms Coates’ sentiments.

“The Liberal government is ignoring the needs of our community, and our children, by taking the cheapest option and failing to deliver on their promise from 2011,” she said.

“They’ve had 11 years to deliver a public high school in Medowie but they haven’t.

“It’s clear the only way we’re going to get the school built is for a change of government next year.”