Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I understand that education has been allotted about one hour in this debate on appropriations. Usually the minister likes to respond to a series of questions and so forth, and on the opposition side we plan to have me, the minister representing the shadow minister for employment, Michael Keenan, and the shadow minister for child care, Sharman Stone, asking questions. Then there may well be some backbench members in particular seats who also wish to put questions to the minister in this section of the debate on appropriations. So that is how we propose to do it. It is possible that the government also has people who want to put questions to the minister. She can respond as we go along, but I think that in the past she has often waited until the end, and it is up to her to decide whether she answers as we go.

The number of questions the opposition would like to ask—and I have a series of them—is 13. They deal with schools, the EIF, the Rural Hardship Fund, TEQSA and trade training centres. Firstly, can the minister explain how frequently she has met with Brad Orgill and whether he has provided her with any examples of waste or mismanagement since the task force was formed on 12 April?

Secondly, how much is Mr Orgill being paid in his capacity as head of the implementation task force? Thirdly, in her media release of 12 April, the minister said the task force would:

… employ or contract investigators with a range of skills in building, design construction and safety, quantity surveying, architecture, financial audit and law.

Can the minister advise how many financial auditors or forensic accountants have been contracted to or employed by the task force and how many quantity surveyors have been contracted to or employed by the task force?

Fourthly, can the minister provide the opposition with access to the contractual documentation for each individual BER project for the following states: Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT, and if not, why not?

Fifthly, given that the Prime Minister promised that, under the government’s computers in schools program, students would be provided with high-speed broadband access by the end of 2011, can the minister provide an update on when the computers are due to be connected at 100 megabits per second fibre broadband in order to keep the promise and how many computers have been connected thus far at 100 megabits per second?

Sixthly, can the minister explain the rationale behind the review of the National School Chaplaincy Program, which began under the previous government? A previous survey indicates that it has the strong support of 97 per cent of school principals who have engaged a chaplain. They have recognised the benefits of the program for their communities, so why is it only funded until 2011, given that it has proven to be so successful in its current form?

In the minister’s media release of 13 May 2008 on higher education, she said of the Education Investment Fund:

The government will also allocate funds from the 2007-08 and 2008-09 surpluses, along with money from the higher education endowment fund to create a new $11 billion Education Innovation Fund, to support higher education and vocational education and training.

How can the minister justify, in terms of this year’s budget, that there is no evidence that a top-up of the $5 billion has occurred as promised?

What is the current status of the $20 million Rural Tertiary Hardship Fund that was negotiated between the minister and the Australian Greens during the youth allowance debate, given that it is due to come into operation in January next year? What form will it take, who will be eligible to apply and what sort of assistance will be offered to students? Or is the fund just more evidence of policy on the run without any thought about what the fund would actually do?

In terms of TEQSA, I refer to concerns about the proposed internal working structures of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, the time lines for the establishment of the agency and the adequacy of funding for the role it is to be tasked with. (Extension of time granted) Is the TEQSA another example of Labor making significant commitments but being shambolic in their implementation?

With respect to the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program, how many trade training centres are currently open and operational from the first round of the program? How many trade training centres are currently open and operational from the second round of the program? Of the currently open and operational projects, how many are in non-government schools? How many trade training centres from round 2 are operational and, of these, how many are attached to non-government schools?

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