Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

The member agrees with me: that is not a guarantee. It is a competitive process. Applications were made to the panels, who then made recommendations based on need. Due to the overwhelming number of applications received, particularly from state government schools, where the most chronic neglect has been identified, a bill was passed through this parliament, and members voted on it, to bring forward the funding to 2006 and 2007 so that we could meet the enormous demand, particularly from state government schools. The House voted on that and that legislation passed.

The Australian government has met its election commitment to expend $1 billion on state government and non-government school infrastructure. In addition, the Prime Minister announced a further $181 million to exceed that election promise, so that schools that had not applied or had only received a small amount of funding could apply again in a fourth round.

This is one of the most successful programs that the Australian government have introduced. The reason for its success is that we have met the failures of state governments to properly fund their schools. It is very interesting to note that all of a sudden the New South Wales Labor government has come up with a plan to fund toilet blocks in their schools. In the 21st century, in a First World country, the New South Wales Labor government thinks that an election promise ought to fund toilet blocks. We believe on this side of the House that wherever a child goes to school, they should be in a high-quality environment, and that is why we have exceeded the election commitment of $1 billion: it is now an almost $1.2 billion program.

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