Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion. Would the Deputy Prime Minister outline to the House recent announcements about the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program and how these announcements have been received?

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

I thank the member for Page for her question. I know that she would have been delighted that seven schools in her electorate are receiving more than $10 million as a result of the recent announcement of round 2 of trade training colleges. I was very pleased to be able to travel with the member for Gorton to his electorate, to the Catholic Regional College in Sydenham, to make this announcement on 5 November. In round 2 of our Trade Training Centres in Schools Program, 92 projects in 302 schools are receiving $384 million. This is great news. Of course, this round 2 was bumped up by $110 million extra, which was pulled forward as part of the economic stimulus package.

We know that members opposite did not support the economic stimulus package and did not support this investment in trade training centres in schools. Indeed, the shadow education minister, the member for Sturt, said in those debates:

In the package that has been announced there is a description of the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program as having received an outstanding response from schools across the country. The unreality of that statement struck me in its tendency towards Maoism.

The member for Sturt went on to say:

How absolutely ludicrous!

These overblown words follow the consistent and wrong claims of the member for Sturt that somehow funding to schools has been cut in this program. That is a completely untrue claim which he repeats and repeats. But people in education know the truth, which is that this program is being rolled out exactly as promised, with schools eligible for between half a million dollars and $1½ million, and many schools choose to put their money together to get a bigger and more diverse facility. But those are the words of the member for Sturt: ‘Maoism’ and ‘How absolutely ludicrous’.

I can inform the House that, against that basis, I have found a Maoist on the Liberal backbench. I can see the Leader of the Opposition is interested in this news. He is about to write the name down, with a purge coming—a Maoist on the Liberal backbench. It will strike you as a name you would not have predicted. He is a conservative-looking bloke; you would not pick him as a Maoist. It is the member for Parkes: the Maoist on the Liberal backbench. There he is: the Maoist on the Liberal backbench. If you are going to come out as a Maoist, you might as well do it in a newspaper called the Daily Liberal. Where else would you possibly do it? In his column ‘Coulton’s Catch-up’, he says the following about trade training centres:

This week, I am delighted to announce that several schools in the Parkes electorate will receive funding for trade training centres.

The waxing lyrical about trade training centres goes on paragraph after paragraph, school after school, as he lists the six projects in his electorate receiving over $20 million in funding. The Maoist on the Liberal backbench goes on to say:

Access to premium education facilities is extremely important for students, particularly those living in regional areas. Many students are often interested in pursuing a trade and these centres allow students access to training opportunities while still at school.

The member for Parkes goes on:

It’s a great initiative which creates a new generation of skilled and qualified workers for our region—something that we are desperately in need of.

The member for Parkes is right: his region is in need as a result of more than a decade of neglect by the Howard government. And he is right: the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program is a great initiative. The only person who ends up looking absolutely ludicrous at the end of this is the member for Sturt.