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

There are 3,500 schools that have been published, but there are 9,500 schools across Australia that would be affected. I look forward to the minister providing further information about the other 6,000. My next question is also about the BER. Recommendation 8 by the task force suggested:

The Taskforce has not been satisfied by the various explanations as to how value for money has been calculated by many jurisdictions. The Taskforce recommends that a forum of education authorities be convened to develop a more consistent set of definitions and measures of value for money.

The department indicated in response:

The Government will develop through the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) a set of national definitions and measures of value for money for education infrastructure.

And:

DEEWR, through the new unit, will develop a paper for the Minister to take to MCEECDYA in the new year. The paper will examine the issue of value for money, the variety of definitions that currently exist and a possible way forward.

I have four questions. Has the minister taken a paper to MCEEDYA? If so, what is the date this was raised? How have MCEEDYA decided to develop the nationally consistent definitions? When will this occur?

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