There is little debate that £9bn (and rising) is an astronomical bill to pay for hosting the 2012 Olympic games. Politicians and lobbyists are keen to cite the regenerative benefits to East London and the boost to the economy, but is this a good investment and could it damage education?

Yes, if the government keeps having to raid the Lottery and other funding streams. And the evidence? A 1998 report from the New South Wales Education Department apparently shows how school maintenance budgets were to be slashed for a decade to help pay for the A$1.6bn (£655m) overspend on the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The Sydney Morning Herald has lodged several unsuccessful Freedom of Information requests to obtain the documents, which the NSW Education Department have refused, claiming they are confidential, prepared as a submission to the NSW State Cabinet.

While 12,000 miles away, there are eerie parallels with a Labour administration raiding the public purse to pay for an Olympic Games, FOI requests rejected on the grounds of secrecy and Cabinet privilege – just transpose the NSW politicians for Tessa Jowell and Gordon Brown.

The impact has been a decade of poor and in many cases non-existent school maintenance and has done real damage to public confidence in the NSW education system. While the media has been denied access to the documents, the scale of the problem has really only been highlighted after an independent survey of 300 schools was undertaken by the NSW Public Schools Principals Forum.

Don’t be surprised if the government diverts a sizeable chunk of money allocated for a programme like BSF to the Olympics. This would help solve two problems for Gordon Brown; it would allow the DfES to achieve its Gershon saving targets and at the same time make sure the Olympics doesn’t run out of money.

www.smh.com.au