Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor Party’s criticism of the coalition’s Investing in Our Schools program, which the member for Bendigo spoke about earlier, shows that the party has no idea about the funding of regional schools. This week the deputy opposition leader, Jenny Macklin, criticised the government’s allocation of funds for schools and claimed that the government is rorting the program. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would like to make three points to cover the inaccuracy of that statement. The first one is this. She is down here in Canberra saying that too much money is being spent in coalition seats. For a start, most country and regional seats are held by coalition members. You would find that a lot of money would go to those electorates not because they are coalition electorates but because they have more schools—that is, not big schools but a lot of schools. There are a lot of schools that do not have shadecloth, do not have airconditioners and do not have library facilities. A lot of schools have been neglected by the state government. That is the first point.

Part of that first point is this. While she is down in Canberra saying that we are getting too much, up in the Hinkler electorate Greg Purches, the former ALP campaign director and organiser of the Teachers Union, is saying it is not enough. We have one message from the ALP in Canberra telling us that it is too much and in the electorate we have the other side of the ALP saying it is not enough. You cannot have it both ways. That is the first point.

The second point is that these moneys are allocated by assessment committees, and those assessment committees are made up of principals, parents and members of the school community, with a state government adviser. Note: there is a state government adviser. How is it then that these people can say that it is not independent? The third point I would make is that, when Labor were in power, they did nothing like this for schools in country areas.

I make no apologies for having, say, $50,000 going to Avoca State School for refurbishing classrooms or funding going to Bundaberg South State School to build an outdoor playground area. Kids in Queensland, with those hot climates, do need refrigerated airconditioning and do need shadecloth. The reason for this program is largely to empower these schools to make up for the neglect and the lack of prioritising by the state government. If Hinkler is the fourth best resourced electorate in Australia, long may it continue. I make no apology for it.