Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We know what would be constructed if the opposition were in government: there would be flagpoles, Member for Mitchell—that is what you would choose. That was the contribution from your side when you had the treasury bench: flagpoles for schools. And there were conditions attached to those as well. So do not come in here lecturing us about contributing to vital school infrastructure when the record from your side has been absolutely abysmal.

You question the need for the stimulus package, Member for Mitchell. I ask you the question: where have you been? Where were you when the global financial crisis was on? Look at what people are saying about the targeting of the stimulus package in this country. The IMF are saying it is the best targeted stimulus package in the world. The Governor of the Reserve Bank has said that the stimulus package, the fiscal response from this government, was absolutely spot-on, and when he has been before the Standing Committee on Economics—when members from your side, the opposition side, have said, ‘You know, we should be taking the foot off the pedal with the stimulus package’—the Governor of the Reserve Bank has repeatedly supported the government on the stimulus package, repeatedly supported the program and repeatedly supported the timing. So, Member for Mitchell, you should get some of your facts right before you come in here and debate this bill.

Quite frankly the Commission of Inquiry into the Building the Education Revolution Program Bill 2010 is a political stunt. It is nothing more. The member for Sturt is out after another headline and he is using this bill as a stunt to try and gain more publicity, attacking what has been the most successful and most wanted program in school history.

As an example, I will talk about some of the schools in my area on the Central Coast. There are 106 schools on the Central Coast and, of those 106 schools, all either have construction underway or have had construction completed. I was at Wyong Grove Public School just a couple of months ago. Wyong Grove has completed its school building, a new hall. Wyong Grove is one of the most underprivileged schools in the country. Do you know what the headmaster said to me about this school project, the BER project? She was so proud of what it had done for school morale. Kids were turning up to school because they had a new school hall in which they were being taught dancing for the first time. They were getting extracurricular programs that were being delivered in this school hall. She had had difficulty with truancy, getting kids to actually turn up to school, but because of the BER program we were getting kids to the school because they were proud of it. For the first time in this school’s history they were able to put on a performance for parents because they had enough kids there to do the dancing—dancing they had been taught as a result of this hall being put in place.

I have been to Tacoma Public School, a small school which has also had a new school hall built. Not only did a local contractor build the school hall but they put on local apprentices who had been out of work for a considerable period of time. Young Rob was a carpenter that I met at Tacoma Public School. He was in the last year of his carpentry apprenticeship but had been out of work for six months. He had had little prospect of finishing his carpentry apprenticeship until the BER. To get work before he had had to travel down to Sydney for a couple of hours every day. As a result of the BER he got work locally. There were 106 BER projects on the Central Coast and 98 per cent of the people who worked on them came from the Central Coast. The BER provided local jobs for locals in our community, stimulating the community, making sure that people were kept in jobs and making sure the economy did not crash.

I would like to read a quote from the editor of the Central Coast Business Review. If Edgar Adams is not a member of the Liberal Party, he certainly at least spends a bit of time fundraising for the Liberal Party. He is certainly not someone from our side of politics.  He does, however, edit the Central Coast Business Review and, while I must say that it tends not to give our side of politics the greatest run, about the BER Edgar said:

While this Editor does not agree with many of Labor’s policies we have to agree that their stimulus spending in the schools was a masterstroke. On the Coast it saved the building industry and has done wonders for all of our schools. Anyone wanting to argue with that should talk to the builders and the schools. I have!

That is from Edgar Adams, the editor of the Central Coast Business Reviewsomeone who is not friendly to this side of politics—who has come out with a stunning endorsement of our program, saying how well it has done and how successful it has been in putting people into jobs. That is what this program was all about—making sure that local economies were stimulated so that they had jobs, so that these projects were able to contribute to society through employment but also build much needed social infrastructure.

At almost every school I have been to the headmaster has started the formalities of opening the new buildings by saying ‘I never thought we would be able to build these buildings at my school—it was always a wish but I never thought we would be able to.’ Then they go on to talk about how grateful the school is. I was at Brooke Avenue school the other day at Bateau Bay, just around the corner from where I live, and they were celebrating their 25th anniversary. It had been 25 years since any other building had been done at this school, until the BER. So 25 years ago they built the school, and since then when there has been growth in the school demountable buildings have been brought in. The BER is providing a permanent home, permanent classrooms, for those kids attending Brook Avenue school. That is having a great effect on their education and the future of that school. I am sure that in 25 years time those buildings will still be there. They have provided value for money for the people of Brooke Avenue school—value for money because we have buildings that were not there before that are going to last and that have ensured the employment of people locally and kept those workers off the scrapheap.

Let us not beat around the bush here. We had two alternatives during the global financial crisis. One was to let the market rip. That was the opposition’s view—let the market rip, let a few hundred thousand people lose their jobs. The other was to put in place a very targeted stimulus package that included the BER. That worked. It provided social infrastructure that was much needed. That is the option this government took, and every member of the government is very proud of what has been done.

This is an obvious stunt by the member for Sturt, because we have already had an inquiry; we have had a task force that has gone out and had a look at these issues. It is important to go through the terms of reference of that task force. The task force was to:

1. receive, investigate and respond to complaints regarding the full operation of BER, including individual school projects, in particular—

(a) by referring complaints or evidence of potential breaches of the law, regulations or guidelines to the appropriate authority for action; and

(b)ensuring arrangements are in place between the Commonwealth and States and Territories to minimise duplication of complaints handling processes.

2. assess value for money aspects of individual projects, including project oversight and administration;

3. investigate and assess at its own discretion areas of the operation of the BER, especially as they impinge on the outcomes of projects at schools; and

4. make recommendations to the responsible authority about changes to policy, contracts or projects required to ensure the objects of the BER are realised.

Only 14 recommendations came out of that inquiry. Six are being acted upon immediately and the other eight are recommendations for the future. The task force has had a look at the complaints, and only three per cent of the total number of jobs were complained about—97 per cent were not.

In summary, we have 106 schools on the Central Coast. Whether they were the Catholic schools, whether it was Lakes Grammar Anglican School, whether it was Wyong Grove, that I have spoken about, whether it was Tacoma school or whether it was Brooke Avenue, there have been no complaints from those 106 schools. All we have had on the Central Coast, be it from the business community, be it from the P&Cs, be it from school principals, be it from past students or be it from people who are out after a job, is nothing but praise for the targeted stimulus package that made sure people on the Central Coast kept their jobs and schools got much needed buildings and the much needed social infrastructure that they have been crying out for for years.

See this speech in context