Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his deputy’s remark that the $3.8 million worth of plaques to be placed on school projects are ‘a simple recognition of where funding came from—nothing more, nothing less’. Will the Prime Minister undertake that, in that spirit, the plaques will read, ‘Funded by $315 billion of debt, to be repaid by future generations of Australians, with higher taxes and higher interest rates.’

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I assume this is the same program that our good friend the member for Canning spoke about the other day and said that he supported. He said he supported both the borrowing and the investment in projects like this in his electorate. Is that right? I seem to have heard the Leader of the Opposition say today that he also supported investments in electorates of some type. I just want to see what exact type he is referring to. But remember, with the Leader of the Opposition the core organising principle is that it is not a question of numbers. I go to the question just posed by the Leader of the Opposition on signs and plaques. The amount referred to equates to 0.02 per cent of the $14.7 billion investment in Australia’s schools under Building the Education Revolution.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Under the Investing in our Schools Program guess how much those opposite spent on the question of commemorative plaques? How much do you think you might have spent, Julie? In a total program of $1.1 billion, guess how much our Jules spent on plaques and overall announcement strategies? They spent $7.1 million out of $1.18 billion, which actually equals one per cent of the total program. That is 50 times the amount that this government is proposing to spend on this particular program. Those opposite once again have been caught out by their own extraordinary double standards. We have a nation building for recovery plan; those opposite simply intend to talk the economy down at every opportunity.