Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand in this parliament tonight to raise a grievance on behalf of the electors of Paterson. It is clear to the thinking Australian that the Rudd Labor government’s education revolution is descending into something of a farce, and Australia’s roads—and by that I particularly mean Paterson’s roads—are turning into rubble because of Labor’s mismanagement of taxpayers’ funds.

Labor’s philosophy is to spend big for spending’s sake, to create debt and deficit. There are the soon to be announced higher interest rates and an increase in taxes because of their gross economic management. And all the while our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, proclaims himself to be an economic conservative—more like an economic vandal. Then there is the part-time education minister, Julia Gillard, who leaves a litany of failed education programs in her tracks. This is fact—stark, cold, disappointing fact.

Let me give you some more facts. Fact 1 is that the primary schools stimulus debacle has already encountered a $1.7 billion blow-out. Fact 2 is that the Building the Education Revolution is under investigation by the Auditor-General for waste and mismanagement. Fact 3 is that the Building the Education Revolution display signs are under investigation by the Australian Electoral Commissioner for breaches of the Commonwealth Electoral Act, proof positive it is nothing more than all spin over substance, showing the BER to be a political strategy, not an economic or an educational strategy. Fact 4 is that the computers in our nation’s schools came at a $1.2 billion blow-out for taxpayers. Fact 5 is that the changes in Youth Allowance unfairly punish rural and regional students and young Australians already on a gap year. Fact 6 is that, in the lead-up to the last election, the Labor Party promised a trades training centre for every Australian high school; however, now only one centre is being delivered for clusters of up to 10 schools.

I am no lawyer but I am a taxpayer and a father of three children who are busy acquiring an education. Let me be clear on this: if one of my children came home with a report card as dismal as the member for Lalor’s, I would be sorely disappointed and as a responsible parent I would want to take immediate remedial action.

As I have said before, and I shall say it again, the alternative government believes that education is the fundamental, essential and enduring building block upon which to build opportunity for young Australians, and prosperity and cohesion for Australia’s future. Parents and students must be assured that our education system is defined by choice, values and high standards.

The alternative government demands that every child have access to high-quality education from a high-quality teacher in a high-quality school environment. The alternative government supports choice and believes that every parent deserves some level of public assistance to support the education of their child, to instil in them that a good education is priceless as no matter what happens to them throughout life, the knowledge they acquire can never be taken away from them. If a child is exposed to a conducive learning environment it instils in them an opportunity to make informed decisions and to chose the best direction for their life. I am yet to be convinced that Labor are as dedicated to the task of providing the framework for inspiring educational facilities as is necessary for raising tomorrow’s leaders.

Over the past two weeks I have been busy visiting a number of the 64 schools in the Paterson electorate includ-ing Booral Public School, Grahamstown Public School, Gresford Public School, Seaham Public School, Pacific Palms Public School, Millers Forrest Public School, Raymond Terrace Public School, Maitland Christian School, Hunter River High School and Martins Creek Public School, as well as the University of Newcastle, the Hunter Trade College and Maitland TAFE. There is a common thread throughout all these learning centres—that is, they have exceptional staff and students and each offers an exceptionally welcoming and unique learning environment. There is another common thread between these schools and that is fear for their future prosperity if they do not receive the necessary ongoing support from a flailing Rudd Labor government.

With all of the largess at taxpayers’ expense, the question that needs to be asked is: where is the solution to an immediate and pressing problem that has been put on the backburner by the New South Wales Labor government due to costs? An issue that is affecting my constituents and their children is the desperate need for a high school for Medowie. I have raised that issue in this parliament on a number of occasions. The land adjacent to the Wirre-anda Primary School has been set aside for a local high school for a number of years. This Labor government could have invested wisely and acted responsibly for the school children in the catchment area. They could have started by introducing a middle school, maturing over a couple of years to a full year 7 to year 12 high school. If the much stated government goal of improved educational outcomes is to be achieved, then reducing travel time, stress and student numbers is a key part of that solution.

The Rudd Labor government has failed to deliver on this desperate community education need. I remind the House of the words of our Prime Minister prior to the election when he said, ‘It’s time to stop the blame game’ and ‘The buck stops with me.’ Prime Minister you should not have taken your own words literally when you said ‘The buck stops with me’ in relation to the funding of a new high school for Medowie. It is not just the member for Lalor that gets an ‘F’ on her report card from the coalition and more importantly from millions of Australians, as we must not forget her substandard colleague, the member for Granydler, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

The recent release of the Commonwealth Coordinator-General’s progress report on the government’s nation building economic stimulus plan demonstrates the flawed, wasteful and poorly targeted nature of the Rudd government’s $42 billion in spending. The government’s report reveals that a measly 370 projects out of 33,000 approved projects have been completed—just one per cent of the total projects. The Rudd Labor government is all talk and no action. It is all spin and very little or no substance at all. When it comes to making spending commitments, they are experts. However, when it comes to delivering these promises, they are missing in action. And if that is not bad enough, now the member for Grayndler is trying to take credit for a project set up and funded by the former Howard government and the New South Wales Labor government. In a radio grab aired on 2HD on the 25 August, 2009, the member for Grayndler was recorded as saying:

The important thing about this is that it is part of the Government’s Economic Stimulus Plan, which is creating jobs today, but building the infrastructure that we need for tomorrow.

Interestingly, the project he refers to is the 17 kilometres of Pacific Highway upgrade between the Tea Gardens turn-off and Nerong turn-off, which was started in September 2006, well ahead of his economic stimulus plan. Falsely misleading the Australian public and having them believe that the Rudd Labor government is responsible for the sound investment in the Pacific Highway upgrade in my electorate of Paterson is not acceptable and will not be tolerated, and it is no different for the completed Hunter Valley rail track works.

Credit given where credit is due, but taking credit for others’ hard work reeks of political opportunism—disgraceful to say the least. The attempts to ‘pull the blankets’ over the Australian public’s eyes and take credit for projects, which Labor did not initiate or fund clearly emphasises that they lack substance to skite about their own achievements. What an appalling disgrace that after dwindling away thousands of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on cash splashes and plunging the Australian public into record deficit and debt, they have very few achievements of their own to boast about and instead have to lean on the achievements of the former Howard government and the New South Wales state Labor government to pull them through in their dark hour.

To reinforce to the public just how committed the coalition is to improving roads and therefore increasing driver safety, I remind them that in the lead-up to the 2007 election the coalition pledged a $20 million package for the installation of passing lanes on the Bucketts Way, funding for the Nelson Bay to Fingal link road and funding to upgrade the Lakes Way. No such matching funding for local road projects was committed by Labor, and nor does it seem they intend to. I would also remind the House that it was the coalition that committed the funding during the last election for the F3 link road between Seahampton and Branxton and it was the Labor government that was kicking and screaming in delivering funds to bail out a failing member for Hunter in his darkest hour.

My constituents have a justifiable grievance when they ask: where is the money? Where is the support and why is this government pork barrelling with their taxes? This government could show initiative by expediting the funding and therefore completion time for the Bulahdelah Bypass on the Pacific Highway to help deliver four lanes from Sydney to past Taree in the north. This government could take the initiative and fund local roads like Bucketts Way, Lakes Way and the Fingal to Nelson Bay bypass to improve motorist safety. But they will not. And why is that? Because Labor thinks that they can rest on their laurels and ignore the needs of coalition seats whilst injecting billions of dollars of funding into existing Labor seats, which they no doubt think will lead them into a successful election whenever it is next called. This is simply not good enough. The people of Paterson deserve better and, as their elected representative, I will continue to meet with my constituents to listen to their points of view and to air their grievances in this parliament. Not only that, but I will continue to monitor the government and hold them accountable for their inaction and for avoiding their duties to the entire Australian public, not just those in Labor seats.