Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of the answers. I listened to the rhetoric from the other side of the chamber and I am absolutely gobsmacked that the senators on that side have the audacity to scream at government senators. I am referring to Senator Fisher from South Australia. All I could hear from her was the rant, ‘Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.’ I think that is absolutely wonderful, because it is a four-letter word that that side of the chamber really find offensive. We have been talking about that since November 2007; we are all about jobs. I wonder if Senator Fisher had the same passion for that four-letter word and ‘Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs’ when she worked for former industrial relations minister Peter Reith.

I want to take this opportunity to quote a very fine example of the education revolution—the part about the government building infrastructure in schools. I must say that, of the electorates in Perth, I have not had one school, whether it be primary school, high school, religious school, private school or any other school, ring me and say that they are not happy with the government’s Building the Education Revolution. In fact, at every school I have gone to, whether to watch children working on their new computers or to open a new building, I was thanked profusely by not only the principals and the teachers but also the parents and citizens associations.

Here is the example. The Sunday Telegraph on 5 April this year had an article in relation to a quote obtained by Bobs Farm Public School in New South Wales for a building. The department provided Bobs Farm Public School with a quote. The school was told they could have the new classroom built for whatever amount of money it was that the department was quoting but, lo and behold, the school got another quote which came in substantially lower. I think it is important to note that the New South Wales Department of Education and Training looked into this quote to check it out. One must adhere to the basic business principle that you must always check the fine print.

When the education department went through the contract there were number of, I would say, important things that were missing from the quote. I will list what they are—and I notice the other side have all of a sudden gone quiet for some reason. The quote did not include any carpet. It did not include any foundations. It did not include a ceiling and—I hear the laughs coming but this next one is absolutely fair dinkum—the quote did not include any furniture. Not only that, it did not include connection to a sewerage system, stormwater drains or electricity. As part of the quote, there was absolutely no mention of site preparation. I am not a builder—and I am being serious about this; this did actually happen—but I have worked out that there are a few important things that you need if you are going to build a building. And there was no quote for demolition and sloping work. The quote did not include a railing on the balcony to stop children from falling off.