Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always a pleasure to follow the exciting, motivating and riveting addresses of the member for Shortland, because she is always so enthusiastic and excited about all of these great initiatives that are being delivered by the Howard-Vaile government. It is always very exciting to follow her because you know that, somewhere along the line, people like to see that their glass is half full rather than half empty. You can always rest assured that the former speaker’s glass is generally half empty when we talk about any initiatives that have been delivered by this government.

I rise to speak in support of the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment Bill 2006. This bill is incredibly important to ensure that schools such as those in my electorate of Riverina can access funding more quickly to ensure that infrastructure needs are met. The Investing in Our Schools program, which was part of the original legislation, has been very well received, with 8,000 applications received in 2005. Last year, 4,034 round 1 projects were approved for our schools. This program is part of the Australian government’s commitment to providing $1 billion for capital infrastructure grants for government and non-government schools from 2005 to 2008, bringing the total funding for capital grants to $2.7 billion over the three-year period. The Investing in Our Schools program provides grants totalling $700 million for government schools and $300 million for non-government schools.

According to the member for Jagajaga’s press release, the Riverina was the third-highest recipient, of which I am very proud. These grants of $1.4 million for over 40 schools were announced in October. This funding allows the wider school communities to make decisions about infrastructure changes which are imperative in ensuring that students are educated in the best environment possible. Some of these projects are so urgent many schools are already concerned about the time they will have to deliver some of these enormously important infrastructure grants. There were so many applications lodged that it has taken longer than was anticipated to deliver the funds advice. There is a reason why so many program applications have been lodged. The member for Shortland has said that it is state bashing, but the reason there are so many applications is simply state neglect.

See this speech in context