Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, the next speaker will get up and say how good this has been for schools. It is not a matter of just giving these schools a benefit. I will tell you what it is all about. I want to say to those people who are representing the minister so the message goes back: you have to sell a heck of a lot of sausages and onion to possibly come up with the sort of money that has been invested in these tiny schools. They just could not do it. I believe the state governments’ priorities are lacking in that they should have done these things.

We have got teachers trying to deliver education in public schools in inadequate facilities. The member for Rankin before talked about the shift of young people from public schools to private schools. I do not believe there is much of a shift going on—I know he was talking about the numbers. I do not believe they are shifting out of public schools. In our public schools—and I am going to talk about a few in a minute—the teachers are dedicated and the principals and teachers are talented. The facilities are not as good as some of the new private schools, but I would say to the member for Rankin that there is a lot of streaming going on. They are starting in the kindergarten, going through to primary school in the independent sector and then going through to secondary school in the private sector, rather than shifting from public schools to private schools—although there is some of that in the secondary area. In my own experience, I went from Koo Wee Rup Primary School to Koo Wee Rup Secondary College. Later on, I went to the city—probably an investment by my mother and father that they are now concerned about.

We are putting in around $10.7 billion—it is very easy to say a billion dollars, but it is a thousand million dollars—which will flow to state schools. That is an increase of $2.8 thousand million over the previous quadrennium. An estimated $20.2 thousand million will flow to non-government schools, which is an increase of approximately—we had better go back to billions—$2.5 billion over the previous amount. The funding is provided to assist the building, maintenance and upgrading of schools throughout Australia. The Australian government funded projects typically include the construction of new schools, additional classrooms, libraries and other vital school facilities. Every member, even those gathered in this room, would have gone to open new school facilities, and they would all admit that they are fantastic. They are amazing facilities compared to what we as young people expected from the schools that we went through in the sixties and seventies, for those who are about my age. Of course, the member for Gorton probably went through far classier schools than Deputy Speaker Somlyay and me.

The Investing in Our Schools program, as I said before, has been most positive for schools in my electorate of McMillan. Pakenham Secondary College, where I was a school counsellor, received funding of $1.6 million in 2006 for stage 3 of the construction of general purpose classrooms; seminar space; commerce, personal development and technology studies facilities; staff work space, which is always important; senior student lounge and amenities—imagine that!—and the upgrade of general purpose classrooms. It is a great school in outer Melbourne. The school has challenges, which it is facing; we all admit that. One of the best things that happened prior to the last election was when the Prime Minister said, ‘I’m going to put some money into the Catholic education system so that they are going to get over and above the money that they have been receiving so far.’ I remember that because I was a candidate then.

Now, for the first time, places like Leongatha, which were once seen as wealthy dairy communities but are no longer, have the socioeconomic status of many of the regional cities across Australia. Mary McKillop Catholic regional college at Leongatha has received funding of $956,956—I do not know how we got a figure like that—in 2004 for construction of a music, drama and dance centre, an arts centre and two classrooms; refurbishment of manual and industrial arts areas; conversion of an existing area to provide physical education facilities; and refurbishment of student amenities and removal of existing relocatable classrooms. I think it was the day I was called away to Sydney to do something else that they opened those facilities. I still remember saying to the bishop, ‘Look, Bishop, I’m not going to make it,’ and he said to me, ‘You go with our blessing.’

The Investing in Our Schools program has taken me back to places like Albert Street, Moe. People say, ‘What have you got to do with Moe, Russell?’ Moe used to be in my electorate. But also my sister began her teaching career in Moe. Those were the days when the teachers did not get the opportunity to pick and choose which school they would like to go to; they got sent. My sister Gaye was sent to Moe. So I have a sort of family attachment to the schools around there as well. And watching the money go into these older schools where there has been a decline in country communities has been great. Albert Street Primary, Moe, constructed an undercover assembly area. That was $40,128. As I am going to keep saying, that is a lot of sausage sizzles.

And there is the Baringa Special School. Mr Deputy Speaker, you know that I have a special affinity with people with disabilities, and particularly with schools like Baringa Special School. The principal there is Rosa. They receive $42,573 under this program.

Last week I had the opportunity to be surprised when I walked into a school. I walked into Bunyip Primary School to celebrate the $50,000 we gave them for their library, only to be met by a witch, who got such a shock when she saw me—I do not know what I looked like—that her hat fell off. She said, ‘You’re not meant to be here.’ I said, ‘What do you mean I’m not meant to be here?’ She said, ‘You’re meant to be in there.’ I thought, ‘I’ve come to a primary school; there is nobody in the office; I am met by a witch whose hat falls off; and then I am told to go in there.’ I went in, and behold: here is a whole assembly hall full of children and teachers dressed up for Book Week. They are dressed up as every sort of character you can possibly imagine.

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