Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is not with any triumph that I rise today to speak on this matter of public importance. I take no satisfaction from the topic before us, ‘the failure of the government to properly manage the Building the Education Revolution program. I am not going to indulge in a debate on the merits of the program and the amount of borrowed money, $14.7 billion, that the government has set aside for the initiative, because that debate has been had. But the government has an obligation to the Australian public to achieve value for money in rolling out this initiative to achieve its stated objectives. I fear there are many examples of the government’s failure to properly manage the program, particularly in regional areas.

It is typical of this government that any concerns which are raised by opposition members are described—to quote from a response by the Minister for Education yesterday in question time—as ‘carping, moaning and criticism’. It is not carping, moaning and criticism; it is pointing out some faults in the program and the minister’s need to intervene before the state governments waste millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.

See this speech in context