Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Mason objects to that comment, and I do feel sorry for Senator Mason because I know he is one of the few people in the coalition who actually cares about education. It must have hurt him to be part of a government that reduced, in real terms, spending on education over its time in government. Here he is, consigned to opposition and trying to beat something up when we are undertaking the biggest ever infrastructure spend in our schools and school communities. Because he is in opposition and has some official role, he has to try to beat up some of the things that he construes as problems with this program.

I find it a very strange tactic of the opposition to come in here and raise this issue for debate. We are very happy to debate this issue because we are so proud of the work that we are doing. We are incredibly proud of the legacy in education that we are going to leave the school community and the future generations of our kids through this program. The Australian government will invest a further $14.7 billion to boost the Australian education revolution in the next three years through the Building the Education Revolution program. This will boost jobs and invest in Australia’s long-term future through building new facilities or upgrading existing buildings in every one of Australia’s 9,540 schools. It is worth noting that members of the opposition opposed the Building the Education Revolution program’s $14.7 billion investment in our nation’s schools. I suppose that is one explanation for the beat-up that Senator Mason wants to pursue with this quite ridiculous motion and his quite hollow arguments, and I will go to the detail of some of the arguments in a moment.

The opposition actually opposed this program, but that does not stop many of them turning up to the opening of these projects, putting up their hands and saying, ‘We think it’s great,’ when the buildings and programs are being delivered. They want to be part of it then but they seem very conveniently to forget that they opposed it in this chamber. The record stands on that. Of course they want the system to fail, so they want to talk it down and to beat up articles in the Australian newspaper to try to undermine the whole program. But the program is fundamentally sound. It is part of a stimulus package that this government has put in place to protect jobs and leave a legacy of substantial improvements in the education system in this country.

I trust that opposition senators have advised schools in their states and territories that they voted against and are opposed to the schools receiving this assistance. Again, is it any wonder that Senator Mason gets up with this stunt, this beat-up? The opposition voted against this investment in our schools, which yet again shows that they are against us supporting Australian jobs. In this global financial crisis they are opposed to this spending, which is going to support thousands and thousands of jobs across the whole of the country, in every school in every community. To date, the Building the Education Revolution program has commenced funding for over 20,000 infrastructure projects, valued at $10.4 billion, rolling out the money in the communities that need it most in order to support jobs.

Before I analyse some of the shallow arguments that Senator Mason put forward, I will again briefly remind the Senate of the three key elements of Building the Education Revolution. The first is Primary Schools for the 21st Century. That is a $12.4 billion long-term investment to build or improve large-scale infrastructure such as halls, gymnasiums and libraries in all primary schools, special schools and K-12 schools. The second element is Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools, a $1 billion investment to build approximately 500 new science labs and language-learning centres for schools with a demonstrated need and a readiness to begin construction. The third is the National School Pride program, which is $1.3 billion to refurbish existing infrastructure and embark on minor building projects.

Under rounds 1 and 2 of the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program, 5,215 Australian schools were successful in having 6,983 projects approved, totalling $9.19 billion. This is an unheard-of investment in our schools and education system, something the opposition, when they were in government, never even dreamed of doing. But they have the hide to come in here and criticise this largest ever single investment in school infrastructure.

Under the National School Pride program, 9,490 Australian schools were successful in having 13,176 projects approved, totalling $1.26 billion. The education revolution will increase the quantity of investment and the quality of education in Australia through a number of programs, including but not limited to Building the Education Revolution, the Digital Education Revolution, Trade Training Centres in Schools, the National Action Plan on Literacy and Numeracy and the education tax refund. The education revolution is more than just infrastructure, however. Already in motion are important national partnerships, including $550 million to improve literacy and numeracy, $500 million to improve teacher quality and $1.5 billion for low-SES schools. And, again, Senator Mason comes in here with a stunt, a beat-up to try to say: ‘Let’s not spend that money. Let’s not roll it out.’ He says the results so far are a failure and an embarrassment. They are anything but. We are enormously proud of the speed and quality with which this is being rolled out.

I want to take the Senate to the Senate estimates process, where Senator Mason spent hours and hours on this issue. Senate estimates is a fantastic process of accountability which the Senate involves itself in. I, of course, chair the legislation committee on education. Senator Mason talked about the monitoring processes, and I want to quote from the estimates transcript, because it is very convenient for Senator Mason to go to Senate estimates, ask questions, get the answers, get the truth, get the evidence but then simply ignore it—to come in here as if none of that evidence had been given to him—because it does not suit the stunt and the beat-up that he wants to promote. The head of the department, Ms Paul, said:

We are undertaking probably a world-leading monitoring process to get to not only how many workers there are but how many apprentices. I think it is absolutely fantastic.

This goes to the issue of job creation in the local communities, and Senator Mason says:

I accept that.

They are his words: ‘I accept that’. Ms Paul then goes on to say:

I have not heard of it in any other sphere or indeed in any other country that we have been talking to about these packages.

And Senator Mason responds:

I accept what you say and the information about job creation will be comprehensive.

So he accepts the evidence of the department in Senate estimates but then comes in here and denies that Senate estimates even happened.

Let us go again to the monitoring process. Dr Nicoll, also from the department—the manager actually heading up the Building the Education Revolution project—said:

We are not monitoring that on a project-by-project basis.

This is about the actual jobs being created in the local areas. He continued:

The states and territories and the block grant authorities as part of their funding agreements are asked to give priority wherever possible to employment in local communities. In some cases it simply will not be possible to have local communities employed on some of these projects.

And what does Senator Mason say? He says:

I accept that. It is the priority. That is all I am saying.

So, in terms of monitoring the process about job creation, Senator Mason well knows because we spent endless hours going into the detail of that monitoring process—and, quite frankly, it is one of the envies of the world.

What did Ms Paul say when asked about value for money? Ms Paul, the head of the department, said:

Certainly even just attending to value for money had not always been done in the past.

Oh, that is strange; she must have been talking about previous projects of the previous government. Obviously, it was never a priority for them to talk about value for money. She went on to say:

One of the key innovations here is not only getting it out fast but having a system that actually in real time records how many people are being employed, which is absolutely phenomenal. I have recently had reason to find out a bit about infrastructure stimulus in other English-speaking countries. No-one is on as fast a track—at least of the countries that I came across—as we are. I do not know of anyone else who can actually track in real time how much work is actually being generated as a result of these projects.

Of course, these projects are part of the very important stimulus program that this government has put in place to protect the jobs of Australian workers and at the same time give this enormous boost—the single biggest boost ever—to building education infrastructure in this country.

Senator Mason wanted to make a big deal about some of the isolated criticisms that have been made. We also know through the process how they have been relying on the Australian to beat up some of these issues. They bring articles into this place and then, to their great embarrassment, when the facts are out, find out that it is not quite what the Australian may have reported.

Principals have to sign off on every project. It is part of the Commonwealth government’s requirement that the local principal signs off on the project. If the principal does not sign off on the project, that project will not go ahead. Senator Mason was at estimates—in fact he was asking the questions about this very point—so he knows that if the principals are unhappy with the program that they are getting or the negotiations with the state bureaucrats, they simply need not sign off.