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

I thank Senator Mason for his question. As a matter of general principle, Senator Mason, I know as a result of the practices of the past, where you have been called upon either to do the outsourced work for the Australian or the outsourced work for the member for Sturt, to always check the facts. Senator Mason, I do suggest you check the facts. In regard to the particular school you have mentioned, the New South Wales Department of Education and Training has provided advice to the minister. The nomination was put forward by the New South Wales government on behalf of the school. It was accepted by the school community on 25 May. Subsequently, the school community indicated that it wished to have additional classrooms constructed. The department is unable to amend the construction plan at this stage. The project had already gone through to tender and has progressed through the statutory plan. I understand that Senator Mason has been put in this extraordinarily invidious position of being advised that certain events have occurred when, if you check the facts, it turns out that the claims being made are not correct. In this circumstance, we have a situation where the time frames for the implementation of Building the Education Revolution were in fact very tight. The proposal at Abbotsford Primary School involves demolishing a current building—