Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I always enjoy the interjections by the member for Canning, who made a personal explanation recently and said he supported government borrowing in order to provide investment in schools in his electorate. Today he has a different tune, but, then again, opportunism is writ large on the faces of those opposite.

As I said in response to the first question from the Leader of the Opposition, the Building the Education Revolution guidelines contain a specific provision that P&Cs or parent bodies who consider that a proposed allocation of funding under the BER program is not in accordance with the guidelines should write to the national BER coordinator, who may, where appropriate, after considering the objectives of the BER program and guidelines, discuss the school’s concerns with the relevant state and territory or block grant authority. That was outlined in the guidelines to begin with, and I would say to any P&C and any P&F out there across the country: in the implementation of a program which goes to 7½ thousand primary schools across the nation, as we said from the beginning, inevitably you are going to have discussions and disagreements at the local level about what is wanted. That is normal; that is natural; that is why we have had so many representations, I think, from members on that side of the House and members here about finessing details on the ground. That is normal and natural. That is why the guidelines contain an explicit provision, which they do, about an opportunity for P&Cs and P&Fs to reflect those views to the national BER coordinator—and I invite them all to do so.

I am very pleased that the member for Sturt has asked this question as well, because I would like him to also begin to reflect on which of these allocations he would find unacceptable in the electorate of Sturt. Burnside Primary School, which I understand he attended, was $2½ million. Campbelltown Primary School at Paradise—

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