Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Education and Deputy Prime Minister tried to imply in question time last week that I am opposed to development and funding in schools. This, of course, is not true. I am more than happy to approve funding for each and every school in the Barker electorate. My record on supporting investment in schools and education of our young Australians is there for all to see. In particular, I wholeheartedly supported the $2 billion Investing in Our Schools Program, which was axed by the Rudd Labor government last year. Indeed, I secured for the Barker electorate the third highest funding across Australia under the Investing in Our Schools Program—that is, third out of 150 electorates. These are the documents on the programs. For the benefit of Hansard, I say that this is at least a three-centimetre-thick bundle of individual programs that were supported by the previous government.

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