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

We promised the Australian people we would deliver $42 billion worth of economic stimulus, and we are delivering $42 billion of economic stimulus. The Building the Education Revolution program required an additional allocation from that $42 billion because of two factors in our Primary Schools for the 21st Century program.

Factor No. 1 was that at the time that this program was costed it was impossible for the government to have the actual 2009 enrolment statistics because it was before the commencement of the school year. The enrolment statistics matter because this is a program correlated to school size. So, as school sizes change and the number of schools changes, obviously financing in the program changes. Then, the second and overwhelmingly largest factor in terms of the costings was that when this program was announced the program costings were done on the basis that uptake was likely to be 90 per cent.

See this speech in context