Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Carr, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. Can the minister advise the Senate about the education investments forming part of the government’s economic stimulus strategy. How do these investments relate to the rest of the strategy; at what point did the government decide to target spending on education infrastructure as a way of cushioning Australia against the global crisis; which parts of the education system have received support; does support extend to primary, secondary, vocational and university education; and how many Australian schools, teachers and students are expected to benefit from these investments?

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

Thank you, Senator Marshall. When Lehman Brothers collapsed a year ago, the world stared into an abyss. This government has pulled Australia back from that abyss. It is too early to sound the all clear, especially when so many countries are in deep recession, yet there is no doubt that the government’s response has shielded Australia from the worst effects of the global downturn. Our first action was to stabilise domestic financial markets. The next step was to launch a three-stage fiscal stimulus strategy focusing, first, on cash transfers to underpin short-term demand; second, on small-scale shovel-ready infrastructure to support jobs and business; and, third, on long-term investment in nation-building infrastructure. Education has been the focus of the government’s stimulus strategy since day one. In September last year, the government announced that it would speed up the implementation of its three nation-building funds, including the Education Investment Fund. In December, we provided an extra $1.1 billion—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, please resume your seat. When there is silence, we will proceed. Senator Carr.

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

In December, we provided an extra $1.1 billion for research, teaching and learning facilities, and an extra $500 million for TAFE. In February, we announced the biggest single investment ever made in Australian schools. That investment delivered new and upgraded classrooms, playgrounds, libraries, halls, science centres and language laboratories around the country. It benefited 9½ thousand schools, it helped a quarter of a million teachers and it helped 3½ million primary and secondary school students. (Time expired)

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister further advise the Senate how these investments will contribute to the government’s broader policy agenda, in particular its efforts to build stronger communities, a more skilful workforce and more innovative industries?

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

Our education investments are benefiting not just people in the school, TAFE and university systems. They are benefiting the communities that will use these school halls. They are benefiting employers, who will have access to a better skilled workforce. They are benefiting the industries that will draw on university research to help develop new products, new services and new processes. They are benefiting our colleagues on the opposition benches. They will come in here and they will try to mow down the government’s efforts to give Australians a better education, then they will have to go back to their own electorates, to their own communities, and have to try to claim credit for the government’s work. We have seen this again, this morning, with the government’s automotive legislation, where the opposition has been through all sorts of contortions and backflips. There have been more backflips than in Circus Oz.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. To what extent are these investments designed with the needs of local communities and local economies in mind, and to what extent have they achieved the government’s aims?

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

Our stimulus strategy is expected to support 210,000 jobs. A lot of those jobs have been underpinned by investments in education, whether it be for 100 construction workers in Newcastle, 12 architects in Melbourne, 250 building people in Canberra, including 50 apprentices, or the 50 tradies and 30 apprentices in Port Lincoln. These are businesses that all over the country are making it clear that they owe their survival to the Building the Education Revolution—businesses in Western Australia, in the Northern Territory, in Queensland and in Tasmania. There are building companies. There are service companies. There are manufacturing companies. Our objective has been to create job opportunities, and that is what we are doing. We are achieving that objective. This is an out-of-touch opposition, and it hates these messages. (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.