George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to be able to inform Senator Fifield of the current state of the Investing in Our Schools program. Senator Fifield, as the chairman of the government members policy committee, takes a deep and sophisticated interest in educational issues, as all honourable senators would be aware. The Investing in Our Schools program is yet another example, of which there are many, of the Howard government taking up the slack to compensate Australian families for failed, negligent, inefficient state Labor governments. The program allows for school communities, principals and parents, among others, to identify and prioritise the needs of schools and make applications for Australian government funding on a school-by-school basis. It cuts out the inefficient ‘politburos’ of state education departments, who have failed—