Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I remember Agarn and O’Rourke and all those people. When I was at primary school at St Patrick’s in St George, the library was where all the knowledge was and if you ordered a book it would take months to come in. But nowadays, with the internet, students have access to the world at home. It does mean that their filtering system is not quite as good as a librarian’s, obviously—and I did meet a roomful of Commonwealth librarians the other day, actually, up on the second level. Librarians have such a different role now. Instead of being the ‘sage on the stage’ they are now the ‘guide on the side’ to bring people into where the data and resources are. So things have changed a lot.

We are proud of our record on education on this side of the chamber. I would suggest that for those opposite, particularly the former teachers—and I think that we have one in the chamber now, the member for Canning—the record is not as proud, unfortunately. Maybe it is just because the Labor Party is so committed to opportunity and investing in schools—all schools. Sure, it was great to see that schools were able to access that great contribution to learning, the flagpole, and I do admit that there were schools in my electorate that did not have flagpoles before John Howard was elected—15 years ago yesterday—and they ended up with flagpoles at the end of his time. It is good that there is a flagpole and that there was a ceremony and a name of the member at the time near their flagpole. That is a good thing, for a flagpole is an important part of any school, I guess.

But it is also great to go along and open a language lab, as I did at Yeronga State High School the other day, or to open computer labs or classrooms. They are the sorts of things that schools particularly appreciate, especially when you can add in the interactive whiteboards and the like. That is the way of future education. We do understand education particularly, and hopefully those opposite will start to embrace some of these things. I would like to hear a member opposite say a good thing in this chamber about the BER program. I have certainly seen lots of photographs of them giving the thumbs-up out in their electorates. I am sure that the member for Canning would not be so hypocritical as to vote against the program in here and then go out and cut a ribbon in his electorate, but some people might. Some people might give a big thumbs-up out in their electorate but in here say: ‘No, no, no, we are against that. It is not a good thing.’

Unfortunately there has been a bit too much hysteria about the Building the Education Revolution. The BER program was about a job-saving, economy-boosting, massive capital injection into education. It could have been in the military, it could have been into roads, it could have been into lots of other things, but I am very proud as a former teacher that it was into educational facilities. Every educator, every parent of every schoolchild, needs to remember that if those opposite had had their way the BER would not have happened.

The BER program delivered what we promised—modern educational facilities that double as community facilities. BER facilities in my electorate on Brisbane’s southside actually became evacuation centres during the floods, including St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School at Corinda, Yeronga State School Hall, and the Oxley State School Hall, which was also used for community meetings. So these community centres used in a time of crisis came out of the BER program.

Last month I attended ceremonies to mark the opening of a new international language centre at Yeronga State High School and new and improved classrooms at the autism centre in Sunnybank and, as I said, I was also at a community barbecue at Our Lady of Fatima at Acacia Ridge. So no matter what those opposite say, these investments will always be good news stories—good for students, good for support staff, good for teachers and good for the communities in my electorate. And I am sure it could be said by all 150 members of this chamber if we were totally honest.

So I am pleased that this bill provides funding certainty. Once upon a time there might have been a different story about the members on this chamber concerning where they had come from, but now I think that all sides the chamber would come from private and state, Catholic and other schools. I think that there is quite a mix of people in terms of backgrounds. I went to a Catholic primary school and then to St George State High School—in fact I was there on the very first day that it opened. So the mix of educational backgrounds has completely changed over time and we are committed to supporting our non-government schools and our Catholic schools. They do a great job. I could perhaps have declared a conflict of interest, as my son does go to a Catholic school, but I do not think that was completely necessary. This bill provides funding certainty that non-government schools need and deserve, and I commend it to the House.

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