Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

They are heroes in their electorates and cowards in Canberra. When they come to this place they disown the openings that they have been to and do nothing but 'slag and bag', as the member for Sturt is very fond of saying.

I recently had the pleasure of attending Warrawong High School, which has been the beneficiary of around 160 new computers that have been delivered under this program. That is one of the 19 schools within the electorate of Throsby which have received a total of over 4,570 computers under this particular program. It really is quite extraordinary that the member for Sturt, and those who have lined up to support him, brings this motion before the House when, as the member for Petrie has correctly identified, there are 17 schools within the member for Sturt's electorate that have received a total of over 3,700 computers under this program. I see that the member for Dawson is about to get up and speak. There is no doubt that he will have something to say about the 18 schools within his electorate that have received a total of nearly 2½ thousand computers under this program. When you think about it, there is only one reason why the member for Sturt brings this motion before the House: they have no policy and they have a lousy record when it comes to education. The only thing that they can point to after 11 years, during which the member for Sturt struggled, scratched, crawled and begged to be elevated to the front bench but was continually overlooked—you walk past it on your way into the classroom in most of the schools in my electorate—is a flagpole. Their contribution to the Australian education system is flagpoles. Do not get me wrong: I think flagpoles are very important. I think understanding the importance of our flag in our schools is very important, but when the importance of providing working-class kids in my electorate with a laptop, with a computer that is going to help them in their education, is stacked up against walking past and saluting a flagpole, I know what most of the parents would opt for.

So there is only one reason why the member for Sturt comes in here to slag and bag a program once again, and that is that they have a lousy record and no policy in this area. Their only policy is to gut the education budget. They went to the last election promising to cut more than $2.5 billion from schools. In addition to that, the spokesperson for education, the member for Sturt, has proposed a further $355 million worth of cuts—that is right, about $2.8 billion in cuts to our school system. So it is quite clear that the real reason they have come here to slag and bag a great program, these gormless characters who have lined up to stand behind the Manager of Opposition Business in defiance of the great work that is going on in their electorates, to stand up behind the member who does nothing but slag and bag and disrupt proceedings in this place, is that they have no policy and a lousy record. The motion should be rejected.

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