Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. I refer the minister to the case of Eungai Public School, which was promised like-for-like replacement of two existing demountable classrooms at a cost of $925,000. The old classrooms had new air-conditioning units, interactive whiteboards and all-weather access. The new classrooms are not air-conditioned, do not have new interactive whiteboards and there are no covered walkways. Minister, these buildings could have been constructed at a fraction of the cost and the P&C are concerned that they do not represent value for money. If the minister is not responsible for a scandalous waste and mismanagement of taxpayers’ money like at Eungai, who is?

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

I thank the member for his question. We understand that there are many candidates for the job of shadow minister for education, and we have just found another one—and he may well be better at it. I say to the member that I am aware that there has been some publicity locally about the school that he refers to. When we look at that kind of comparison, frequently we find when people are talking about construction costs that we are not getting an apples-to-apples comparison. People would be aware that it is common to quote per metre costs to lock-up stage; whereas, of course, the per metre costs for Building the Education Revolution are for the fully fitted out facility—that is, the teacher walks in the door, turns on the lights, the students walk in behind him or her and everything they need to conduct the class is already there in the facility and the fittings are there.

Obviously, if the member wishes me to look at the example, I will. But I say to the member opposite that there is an essential hypocrisy at the centre of this that really needs to have a light shined on it. I hope he says to the P&C at that school: ‘If I’d had my way, you wouldn’t have got one dollar of this expenditure. We wouldn’t be debating what it is that your school is getting because you would not have got one dollar of this expenditure.’ And I hope he says to the workers on that construction site—

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This was about waste and mismanagement of taxpayers’ money.

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

A point of order is not an opportunity for him to debate the matter. 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

I will give him points for loyalty to his leader, because his leader is on the record describing expenditure on schools generally as ‘low-grade expenditure’. Clearly, there is a view throughout the opposition that, if you spend a dollar on schools, it is a dollar ill spent. Heaven knows, that was their track record in government. That is why as a government we have come in and almost doubled the amount of expenditure on Australia’s schools. We have done that because we think they are a great place to put new resources. We think they are a great place to put new facilities. We think they are a great place to encourage better teaching, literacy and numeracy. We think it is a good thing to give more money to disadvantaged schools.

We know those beliefs are not shared by those opposite, but can I say to the member for Cowper that I hope he has the guts and the honesty to go to the P&C at that school and say, ‘I didn’t support a dollar being spent on this school.’ I hope he has the guts to go to the workers who work on that construction site and look them in the eye and say, ‘I didn’t support you having a job during the global recession.’ I hope he has the guts to go and say to any apprentices employed on that site, ‘I didn’t support you having a job and getting training during the global recession.’ That is the position of his political party.

Let us remember that, despite the mealy-mouthed assurances of the shadow minister for education, which are contradicted every day by his leader, the shadow Treasurer and the shadow finance minister, each and every one of those opposite is on the record in this place, on Hansard, name by name, seat by seat, as having voted against this expenditure on schools, and every member of their electorate is going to know it by polling day.