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

It did not work. The Lucknow Primary School has paid $1 million more for something that Bairnsdale West Primary School was able to achieve. If you think that worked, you are not much of a genius, pal. Minister, do you now agree that we have not got value for money in many of these schools? If we had our time again, would we give more control to the state school councils themselves? Do you acknowledge that this one-size-fits-all approach with these template designs has resulted in some very poor outcomes for some of the regional state schools?

I want to speak about one primary school and the issue of demountable buildings. I recently visited the Gormandale Primary School, which had a demountable building delivered in February. When I visited the school last week, I was surprised to find that the school has no access to the building. There is no ramp and there are no steps. There is a gaping hole between the building and the existing pathway. There are two stumps under the building that do not have bolts connected to them and one broken concrete pad. The workmanship is quite shoddy. The reason I am surprised is that, on the government’s website, it is said that the project is complete. The power has not been connected but the project is complete, according to the government’s website. I ask the minister whether she can understand why there is a lot of anger and frustration in regional communities that we have not got value for money for taxpayers’ dollars.

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