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

Senator Mason is only too aware of the lengthy process the government has undertaken to ensure that there is value for money in the implementation of the Building the Education Revolution program. The Building the Education Revolution program is the largest single investment in public education the Commonwealth of Australia has ever seen. It has provided a massive expansion in educational opportunities for every child in this country—a proposition that the Liberal opposition have opposed. They have opposed providing those opportunities to Australian students across the 10,000 schools in this country.

On top of the extraordinary length of measures that this government has taken, the BER Implementation Taskforce has been established to provide additional assurance to the Australian public that the BER program is being implemented in accordance with the guidelines that the government itself established for achieving value for money. This government is concerned about any allegations of any impropriety in the Building the Education Revolution program.

To date, widespread practices of over-quoting, over-charging or fraudulent behaviour have not been found. The evidence simply is not there for the claims that the opposition is making. Nonetheless, it is open to the taskforce to refer potential breaches of the law, regulations or guidelines to appropriate authorities for investigation. (Time expired)