The opposition said documents it obtained under freedom of information show Wagga’s total works needed had reached $8.7m, with Tumut High School reporting $1m in backlogs.  

Wagga Wagga High School had $711,400 in maintenance backlogs; Kooringal High School had $622,100; Kooringal Public School- $591,900; and Mount Austin Public School had $590,300 in works pending.

Labor byelection candidate Dan Hayes has accused the NSW government of breaking its own promise to reduce school maintenance backlogs.

“These are the government’s own figures; the maintenance backlog has got bigger,” he said.

“If you can find $2.2 billion to knock down a 10-year-old stadium in Sydney, if schools were a priority you could find money to reduce the backlog.”

Mr Hayes said Wagga schools were not requesting anything fancy and just wanted “taps working, toilets working, tiles on roofs, bubblers working”.

Education Minister Rob Stokes said in response to the state-wide release of backlog data all school maintenance around safety was carried out immediately.

Mr Stokes said the government had made progress in reducing a backlog left by the previous Labor government.