Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations, Education and Social Inclusion. I refer the minister to revelations that hundreds of out of school hours care centres will be closed across Australia as the buildings that house them are demolished, with either no or inadequate contingency plans put in place for working families, to make their way for school halls. Will the minister intervene to ensure working families are not hit with greater costs and inconvenience?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for her question. The member for Indi I take it is referring to a media report today about some concern that some out of school hours care may be disrupted during the construction phase of Building the Education Revolution. Can I say to the member for Indi that I travel to a lot of schools and I anticipate she probably travels to a number of childcare centres and early learning facilities and out of school hours care facilities, and what I think she would find when she does that is a lot of hard-working people. I certainly do that when I go to schools. When I talk to them about how they are going to manage construction at their school to support jobs today and to modernise their school facilities, something that they are enthusiastic about, they normally work very carefully through plans to keep activity going and to move children and teaching through facilities so that they can keep activity going whilst they do new construction. Of course, everybody would know who has ever been to a school that is building a new facility, or a hospital that is building a new facility or a university that is building a new facility, that this does require—

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

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. The question was whether the minister will intervene, not just observe. Will she intervene to prevent greater—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. On the point of order of relevance, the Deputy Prime Minister is responding to the question.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As facilities are constructed, obviously plans are made to do everything that can be done to keep teaching going, after hours school care going and the like. It is inevitable when new facilities are being constructed that there will be some disruption and dust and inconvenience while the construction is in place. It has ever been so, it will ever be so. It has been so from the dawn of time and it will be so till the end of time. But responsible agencies, schools and schools authorities, are working through contingency arrangements. If the shadow minister has more information than simply revealed by today’s press report and if she can identify to me an individual out of hours school care service where she thinks inappropriate arrangements have been made during the building, then please bring those very specific details to me and I will be happy to work with her and anybody else interested in doing what we can to assist. This is normal, standard practice.

On the question of normal, standard practice, as recently as yesterday my office assisted two members of the opposition who came—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. Under the standing orders this is question time, where we seek publicly given answers, not privately convened meetings to give secret information. It is about time this minister gave some decent answers—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Mackellar will resume her seat. There is no point of order. The minister is responding to the question.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I conclude by saying to the shadow minister and member for Indi that if she has specific information she wants to raise either in question time or with me, publicly or privately, I am obviously happy to work with her on individual concerns. But of course school authorities and individual school principals and teachers are people of goodwill and are making the best possible arrangements they can while these facilities are constructed.

On the question of costs for working families, I await the day when we see fulsome congratulations from the shadow minister for the profound steps we took to better support working families with the costs of child care. I await that day.