Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to raise in the House today issues relating to Building the Education Revolution and how wonderful it will be for the electorate that I represent in this parliament. The refurbishment package will allow for small refurbishments, with tight time frames. The states will have to be quite flexible with schools, and they will have to use local contractors and tradespeople. We hope that those programs will start within six to eight weeks.

The benefit to schools in the Shortland electorate will be enormous. For a very long period of time they have had issues related to maintenance and the need for halls and libraries, but there was not a vehicle to provide the schools with the facilities or maintenance that they needed. The previous government’s Investing in Our Schools Program provided some infrastructure for schools, and those schools have really appreciated that. Unfortunately, it was a very political program. I was told that I was not allowed to go to official openings or to officially open some of the projects that took place in my electorate, despite the fact that I had been very supportive and had helped my schools to work through their applications.

But this program is a unique opportunity that will provide primary schools with up to $3 million, and I have a number of schools in my electorate which will be eligible for that amount of money. The minimum that will go to any school in the Shortland electorate is $850,000. For secondary schools, this program will allow science and language centres to be built, preparing for the 21st century the students who attend those schools.

I have in my hand a priorities list that the New South Wales Department of Education and Training put together in 2007. I also have talked to the schools within my electorate. Whilst this priority list may link into some of the work that schools need, I know that as a local member I will be working really closely with my schools to make sure that the kind of work that happens in local schools is work that they wish to happen, so that the students of those schools can benefit from this program to the absolute maximum.