Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday in question time, I asked the Minister for Education, Science and Training whether she or her office had authorised the provision of unpublished information to the Liberal candidate in Swan in advance of notification to me, the member for Swan. The Liberal candidate in Swan rang all schools in my electorate which had been successful in the grants applications in the Investing in Our Schools program prior to advice being given to my office on the successful projects. I asked the minister whether she or her office had authorised the provision of this information to the Liberal candidate. In her answer, the minister accused me of self-indulgence for daring to ask why the Liberal candidate was privy to this information. She said:

This is a typically self-indulgent question by an opposition member who is more interested in his self-promotion than the education of young students in his electorate.

In her actions in authorising the Liberal candidate to ring schools and tell them about these grants, she is demonstrating herself that she is only interested in the promotion of the Liberal Party rather than education outcomes. The minister went on to say that information on schools receiving grants under the Investing in Our Schools program was provided to each member, to state ministers, on the department’s website and that school principals had also been advised. I checked the website and there was no mention of these grants. Subsequently, I checked with the WA minister’s office, and at that stage they had received no information about the grants and neither had school principals. The minister has been caught out misleading the House and is flagrantly politicising these grants. I support these grants and am delighted that schools in my electorate will benefit. The minister needs to be reminded that this program is a taxpayer funded program and not a Liberal Party slush fund. I understand that this has been occurring in other electorates throughout Australia. (Time expired)