Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I seek to add to an answer asked of me by the shadow minister for education, when he was in the parliament earlier, which related to Hastings Public School. The assertion in the member’s question was that somehow the cost for a covered outdoor learning area had increased tenfold in just six years. Can I clarify the matter as follows: the Hastings Public School in New South Wales has certainly received $400,000 for the construction of a covered outdoor learning area. This is a significant building with a solid roof. It also includes an amphitheatre, seating and a sound system to facilitate school assemblies and performances and science and art work spaces.

I do not know whether the member was seeking to assert that in 2003 Hastings Public School had received $40,000 for some shadecloth. I do not have a record of that. What I think is quite likely to have happened is that the shadow minister has become confused between Hastings Public School in New South Wales and Hastings Primary School in Victoria. If he has become confused on that basis let me take the opportunity to explain to him that they are two different schools in two different states.

The Hastings Public School in New South Wales, which is so ably represented in this parliament by the member for Lyne, also received funding for $2.6 million for new classroom construction. I understand from him that he is very well aware of the views of the school. They are delighted with the funding for the covered outdoor learning area. The principal has also informed me that he is a semifinalist in The Einstein Factor, with the topic of Franklin Roosevelt—

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