Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers given by Senator Conroy to the very good question that was asked by my colleague Senator Barnett. It was a particularly relevant question today, given that yesterday was the second anniversary of the election of the Rudd Labor government. It is timely to reflect on the economic mismanagement of that government and the waste that we have observed over that period of time.

Contrary to the comments made by Senator McLucas, it was under a fiscally responsible Howard-Costello government that the hard work of Australians, with the strong measures taken by that government, ensured that Australia was in the best possible position to weather the global financial crisis. So how is it that in the space of just two years Labor’s reckless spending decisions have left Australians with a record $153 billion debt with monthly interest repayments of $680 million? Senator Conroy himself raised the issue of the Julia Gillard memorial halls—halls which I have to say have already seen a huge blow-out of some $1.7 billion, so we are now looking at a project that will have a total cost of up to $17 billion. These are halls, I remind this chamber, where the principals and the parents have no say in the way in which the money could be best targeted and directed to improve the education of their families and of the students of those schools. We have seen a massive blow-out and a poorly targeted spend with a not-very-good outcome.

As my colleague Senator Barnett asked, where is the value for money? You look at the Julia Gillard memorial hall projects and see that that is not value for money. I am reminded of a couple of examples. We had one school in Longreach in outback Queensland that was granted $250,000 to build a library for one student. They had one student. Is that value for money? Of course it is not. It is absolutely appalling. It is a disgrace, and this government should be held to account for it. We have so many examples of this. Senator Barnett raised the issue of the absolutely disgraceful expense on consultants in Sydney for the Abbotsford Public School. They spent $85,000 on consultants and plans as part of a $2½ million plan to knock down four existing classrooms which are perfectly good and in great shape so that they can build a Julia Gillard memorial hall. These are all examples of disgraceful expense, which we know is very much a tradition of Labor governments.

I am also reminded of the laptops in schools program, which is part of the Building the Education Revolution Program. Anyone who runs a household budget would be absolutely appalled at the way in which these guys are managing the dollars. This has already blown out by 66 per cent to a staggering $800 million—yet again not value for money. There are many such examples, and we have only to be reminded of what happened at this time last year, when the Rudd Labor government gave everybody a Christmas gift of $900. What did we get from that? Where did that go? Certainly those who went off overseas to spend it on their Christmas holidays did not inject it back into the economy here. The programs are all poorly conceived and are not clearly and properly targeted. You can see why we have a serious blow-out in our budget bottom line. (Time expired)