Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and School Curriculum Standards) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Arbib, Minister representing the Minister for Education. Does the minister agree with education department officials who claimed during estimates hearings that school halls built at state schools are more expensive than those built by Catholic schools because of the school facility standards—that is, the intent to build buildings that are going to last a long time? Does the minister therefore claim that buildings built by Catholic schools are of inferior quality and not built to last?

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Minister, I will give you the call when there is silence on both sides. Order! The time to debate this issue is at the end of question time, not now.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The one thing I have learnt from listening to Senator Mason is not to believe anything he says on Building the Education Revolution. I would be more likely to listen to Mr Laming. I remind senators that Mr Laming, the Liberal member for Bowman, said outside the parliament:

Look I’m very grateful for every one of the projects in my electorate. They are all of high quality and the community appreciates them.

That was the Liberal member for Bowman, talking about the school infrastructure projects in his electorate. I would be more likely to believe Mr Laming than Senator Mason on school infrastructure projects. There is no doubt about it: Building the Education Revolution is delivering on its goals. It is keeping countless Australian workers employed. It is keeping tradespeople, carpenters, plumbers and electricians employed on sites. It is employing apprentices.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The question was specifically directed to comments made in estimates by the education department bureaucrats about the different standards for Catholic schools and non-Catholic schools. The minister has not addressed the question; he has not gone near it. This answer is not directly relevant. It is not even relevant to the question.

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

Minister, you have one minute and two seconds remaining. I draw your attention to the question.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, supporting countless tradespeople, countless small businesses and supporting apprentices. More importantly, we are seeing schools get infrastructure that they would never have gotten under the coalition. What is the coalition’s most outstanding achievement? Their most outstanding education achievement from 12 years in government was 3,000 flagpoles. The Rudd government is building 3,000 school libraries—a record we are proud of.

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order, the minister is misleading the Senate. The minister has just said this program is providing buildings for schools. At the Yurrandubbee school Laing O’Rourke have charged $100,000 to decide they cannot build the building.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Senator Heffernan, you are debating the issue. Time for debating the issue is at the end of question time. Order! I remind senators on both sides that interjecting is disorderly.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not only are workers, tradespeople, small businesses and apprentices benefiting from the Building the Education Revolution, schools are also benefiting—and we are not talking about flagpoles. We are talking about classrooms—3,000 classrooms, 222 early learning centres, over 3,000 libraries— (Time expired)

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Senator Mason is entitled to be heard in silence. If you want to have a private discussion, go outside.

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and School Curriculum Standards) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I never thought I would say this, but I am missing Senator Carr. Mr President, I have a supplementary question. Since the New South Wales Catholic block grant authority as well as leading construction industry expert Rawlinsons have now disproved claims made at estimates by Minister Carr and education department officials that Catholic school building costs are much lower because they do not include the costs of furniture and fit-outs, what other desperate excuse can the minister offer for the fact that state school buildings are two to five times more expensive than the same types of buildings built by non-government schools?

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Order! As I said, the time for debating this is at the end of question time.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly do not accept that and the government does not accept that. It is a complete misrepresentation of what happened in Senate estimates. But we do now know what the coalition’s plan is for the stimulus and for education, because Mr Pyne let the cat out of the bag when he said about the money being spent on schools:

We'll come to some arrangement with you about whether you keep half of that or all of that or give some back to the Coalition …

We know what they are going to do now: they want to stop the stimulus, stop the school projects and take the money for their other election commitments, robbing schools across the country. Senator Mason wants to rob Queensland schools of vital infrastructure, vital funding. That is the coalition’s plan for schools. Twelve years of robbing them, cutting education funding, putting in place flagpoles and that is their plan if they get back into government—shame on them. (Time expired)

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and School Curriculum Standards) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a further supplementary question. Can the minister then confirm that the New South Wales state government is furnishing their schools with Louis XIV furniture and gold plating all the fittings and will the minister finally admit that billions of dollars for this program have been wasted by Labor state governments on grossly overpriced buildings?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to Senator Mason that he should spend less time doing his research in the newspapers and a little bit more time talking to principals and school communities because school communities and school principals across the country are supportive of what the government is doing. This is infrastructure they would not have seen for decades. Remember: 3,000 flagpoles under the coalition government, 3,000 school libraries under Labor. I remind you of what the construction industry is saying about these projects. Mr Peter Jones, Master Builders Australia chief economist said: ‘Public spending on education and social’—

Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hutchins interjecting—

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Finance and Debt Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Joyce interjecting—

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

Senator Arbib, resume your seat. Senator Hutchins and Senator Joyce, we are not proceeding until there is reasonable silence in this place so I can hear the answer.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Chief Economist with Master Builders Australia said:

In the past 12 months, building work done for the public sector has more than doubled, offsetting a big fall in private work.

The builder at the Woollahra Public School, Peter Manning, said that he was born and raised in Bondi, was a student at the school in 1969 to year 6— (Time expired)

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Order! I remind senators that this is totally disorderly—people from both sides shouting across the chamber during question time.