Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the minister. I note that he did not refer to any comparative analysis done by the government or the RAAF in respect of the Super Hornet. On unrelated matters, I ask the minister what commitment the government has made or intends to make towards the relocation of the Amberley school. He will be very familiar with this topic. The expansion of the RAAF base at Amberley will necessitate relocation of the school. Many parents there fear that their children will be broken up into a range of other schools rather than having a new school built for them.

Of course, we will inevitably have a stoush between the Commonwealth and the state. The state of Queensland will argue that it is a Commonwealth responsibility because the Commonwealth has forced the move and I suspect that the Commonwealth will argue, and rightly so, that the state has a responsibility to make a contribution as well. In that bipartisan spirit, I ask the minister what he knows about the issue, where we are with it, what contribution the Commonwealth is likely to make and what he knows about the willingness of the state government in Queensland to make a contribution.

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