Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My daughters? Jacqueline and Alexandra. They are both at the University of Queensland St Lucia campus and doing very well. Bremer State High School has over 1,200 students and, under round 2 of the National School Pride program, it received $200,000 for revegetation and a fitness track. Bremer has been relocated from its current site to an area beside the University of Queensland Ipswich campus, near the site of the Ipswich golf course. There has been some discussion and criticism by the opposition about Bremer State High School and the funding we are providing. I have spoken to the principal about the issue, and I would like to minister to comment on that.

The other school is Dinmore State School. Dinmore State School is effectively being amalgamated into Riverview State School. Bremer is being relocated as part of the State Schools of Tomorrow program in South-East Queensland, but Dinmore State School is a small school. A lot of money is being put into Riverview State School, but Dinmore was one of the successful schools in round 2 of the National School Pride program. For a classroom upgrade it received $75,000. I would like the Deputy Prime Minister to comment on where that money is going. Is it going to the existing school site or is it being rolled into the new school site, where Riverview State School is currently located? There is currently a lot of money being poured into that site by the state government.

The other school is Amberley State School. In the National School Pride program, Amberley State School received $125,000 for SMART Board data projectors for classrooms and, in round 2 of Primary Schools for the 21st Century, received $1 million for a new multipurpose hall and just over $1 million for an outside school hours care facility. The current site of Amberley State School, Deputy Prime Minister, has been taken over by the redevelopment of the RAAF base at Amberley. It is being relocated to the neighbouring suburb of Yamanto in Ipswich. We have given the state government $26.83 million to relocate because we are effectively purchasing the site to become part of the RAAF at Amberley. So the school is being relocated and a new school is being built at Yamanto in Ipswich. It is going to be a great school and I look forward to it being opened.

I seek the minister’s comments in relation to that because there has been some criticism by those opposite. In fact, Dr Bruce Flegg, the opposition spokesperson for education in Queensland, described funding for schools in Ipswich as ‘ludicrous’. So I am interested in the minister’s comments in relation to Bremer, Dinmore and Amberley state schools.

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