Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today on behalf of small business tradesmen in my electorate of Paterson who have been failed by the Gillard Labor government. These workers are owed in excess of $600,000 for work they completed in good faith under Labor's Building the Education Revolution. Instead of helping them, Labor hung these businesses out to dry and then washed their hands of it. When Prime Minister Rudd announced a $16.2 billion program to build infrastructure in our schools he said it was to boost the economy. The government's website says that the BER will 'support local jobs and stimulate investment'.

In my electorate of Paterson a group of 56 small businesses were subcontracted to build a school hall COLA facility at the Pacific Palms Public School. Unlike many others, these small businesses completed the job with distinction. They brought the supplies, they put in the hours and they finished the hall in August 2010. It is now six months later and they are still waiting for their payment. There are also subcontractors owed money for BER projects at Bungwahl Public School in my electorate and at Coopernook Public School in the member for Lyne's electorate. How on earth has this been allowed to happen?

The company that subcontracted my constituents, Cape View Developments, has gone into liquidation. It failed to pay its subcontractors. The company that contracted Cape View Developments, Reed Constructions, failed to pay the subcontractors despite giving guarantees to the subcontractors they would once the work was completed. Neither the former state Labor Keneally government nor the current Gillard Labor government bothered to ensure the debt was settled.

The buck must stop with the Prime Minister, who, as the former education minister, is responsible for the BER program. But our Prime Minister Gillard wants all of the gain and none of the pain. When it came to spruiking her program, Prime Minister Gillard was happy to send Senator Forshaw to my electorate to open the building work at Pacific Palms Public School and to speak to the media, but when it comes to ensuring those who did the work in good faith get paid for it, neither she nor Senator Forshaw was anywhere to be seen. Prime Minister Gillard has left those businesses and families under severe financial stress. She should be ashamed. For example, Carl Organ is a local plumber who signed a contract, bought supplies and completed the job. He is now owed more than $45,000. That is a massive amount of money for a small business and a family that is trying to make a living and put their kids through school.

There are many other questions that are yet to be answered—questions such as: did Cape View sign a declaration of payment to a subcontractor under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act stating to Reed that it had paid its subbies in order to get paid itself? If so, it could be in breach of the law. I have put the question to Reed Constructions but they would not answer my questions. Even the subcontractors themselves have been largely shut out by Reed, which seems to have gone to ground on the issue. Put simply, no-one wants to take responsibility for the BER program when things go wrong. Prime Minister Gillard has handed out billions of taxpayers' dollars but failed to put into place any mechanisms for accountability. So it is up to her to settle this matter.

I wrote to the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Chris Evans, regarding this issue back on 3 March and he has not bothered to reply. Yet they continue to send Senator Forshaw to open school buildings in my electorate. Likewise the member for Lyne also had the chance to stand up for these workers, many of whom are his constituents, but he would not do anything for them. Sadly, I am not surprised, because he had a chance to vote with the coalition to approve an inquiry into the BER but he would not. I think he is more interested in his own job than he is interested in standing up for his own constituents. The small businesses who are already struggling because of these debts will now have to pay for lawyers to take this up in court on their behalf. It would be yet another burden.

Labor must do something to fix this now and I will not rest until it does. I have written to the Prime Minister and the New South Wales Minister for Education, Minister Piccoli. Prime Minister, you are sending Senator Forshaw to open a building in Grahamstown on Monday and in another town on Tuesday. Will you instruct him to meet with the subbies who have not yet been paid? Prime Minister, I am demanding that you take an active role and end this debt problem for people who placed good faith in the BER program, built a great building but have not been paid and are wearing the burden of your policies.