Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition goes on to ridicule that investment, but at every school opening and every BER opening I go to the community, the school community, the churches, the independent schools and the public schools say: 'This is a great investment. This is giving us kids a chance.' The interesting thing is that when I go to BER openings now I find there is a marked difference. When I used to go, in the first six or nine months of openings, there were no opposition people there. The local member who had voted against the stimulus and who had voted against the investment in schools never used to turn up. The Liberal and National parties had a strong position: they opposed that money going to schools. As my colleagues find now when they go to the openings, who do they run into? Local Liberal members proud to be associated with the opening of the buildings and welcoming of the investment in the schools. State Liberal premiers say, 'It's the best thing the federal government's ever done.' Liberal members say, 'Our schools welcome the investment.' So they come in here and they vote politically and then they go out to their electorates where they now like to be associated with our tremendous investment in the education of our country.

Mr President, you go to any primary school in this country and you will see an investment that those schools and those parents appreciate. Go to the science and language labs in high schools and you will see that investment. Go to the TAFEs and universities of this country and you will see that investment. We are investing in the education of our young people, which will give us a dividend for many years to come in their skills and abilities and in our productivity.