Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to be able to speak about the science and language centres because this is a fantastic part of Building the Education Revolution. When you talk about productivity—the productivity of schools, the productivity of the stimulus package—this is one area in particular which will provide a great deal of productivity for the economy. That is what education does. Again, the Liberal Party neglected education. This government is taking it up.

The government committed itself to deliver 500 science and language centres. We will deliver 537 of those. Senator Ryan would, I am sure, be aware that there was a comprehensive and competitive application process to determine which schools would receive funding under the science and language centre element of the BER. An independent assessment panel was established to assess almost 1,500—