Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Wyatt Roy—he is a mister. Mr Wyatt Roy turns up at some of these openings and he is about the same height as some of the students. Sometimes the teachers put their arm around him and try to usher him back into class because they think he is part of the student group at these schools. That is what happens if you go along to attend the opening of these halls when you do not believe in it and you are there for the photo opportunity. What more do you expect?

This $16.2 billion program not only provided schools with facilities they never thought they would get; it also kept many people in jobs. Many, many contractors and construction workers have come to these openings and indicated their thanks to the government for keeping them in employment as well.

We have also been transparent with the BER through the government's establishment of the Building the Education Revolution Implementation Taskforce in 2010 to examine the program, and its report was released to the public. Our economic stimulus plan also invests in our roads, railways and ports. We have injected $37 billion and there will be even more when the minerals resource rent tax goes through.

When the coalition was in government, our nation ranked 20th of the 25 OECD countries for investment into infrastructure as a proportion of national income. One of our election commitments was to promote a pro-disclosure culture across the government by building a stronger legislative foundation for openness and transparency. Reforming Australia's freedom of information laws was a key component of that commitment, and an improved FOI regime commenced on 1 November 2010. The reforms also established the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner, supported by the Privacy Commissioner and a new freedom of information commissioner, is a specialist independent monitor with the ability to review FOI decisions and investigate complaints. The commissioner will also work with agencies to develop best practice standards in the areas of FOI and privacy and to monitor compliance. Labor is committed to improving transparency across government and increasing trust in our democratic institutions.

Another area that we are reforming is health. Under the national health reform, we are working to transform the health system to be more efficient, accountable and transparent. In 2014-15 the federal government will increase its contribution to efficient growth funding to 45 per cent and then 50 per cent in 2017-18.

Returning to the nature of this matter of public importance, I want to reflect on a headline in the Sydney Morning Herald dated 18 May 2010. The headline is 'Read my lying lips: Abbott admits you can't believe everything he says'. In an interview on the 7.30 Report he admitted, on air, to Kerry—what was his name?