Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I confess to some surprise in the question. I assumed that the member was going to ask me about a school in Mosman! I will look at the school that he has raised with me. Let me assure him that the way the Building the Education Revolution program works is that there is a limitation on project costs and on administration fees. I will look at the example that he has raised with me and we can work through it. I am sure that when we work through it some of the things that the member has put in his question will turn out not to be right. But, given that he wants me to look at an individual school, I will certainly do so.

Can I say more broadly in respect of the Building the Education Revolution program, I understand that the Liberal Party squirms each and every day in embarrassment because of its lack of policies on education and because it failed to support the biggest school modernisation program in the nation’s history. When I travel to schools and I see the delight with which this program is being received, I can understand why members opposite who travel to schools would find school principals, teachers and students saying to them, ‘Why did you oppose us getting these extra facilities?’ So I understand the carping, the moaning and the whingeing to try and cover that up.

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