Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

The Roseneath Primary School matter—once again we have this very covert way in which you have presented this—was covered by the Australian newspaper, the newspaper of choice for the outsourced worker, the Liberal Party, on 22 June. It claimed that BER funding was being used to pressure the Tasmanian schools community to rush to mergers and closures. I remind the Senate that the Commonwealth has no influence over the merger of schools. The issue of school mergers is one for the state and territory governments. In regard to this particular BER application, Roseneath Primary School is scheduled to merge with Abbotsford Primary School. This is occurring in accordance with the BER guidelines, which state:

Where two or more schools have a planned amalgamation over the next three years into either a new school site or an expansion of one of the existing schools, then the indicative funding allocation for the schools to be merged may be combined to be used for capital or refurbishment in the new school. (Time expired)