Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak in the parliament today about the Investing in Our Schools Program, which the students of the schools in the Ryan electorate, their parents and principals warmly welcome. I strongly commend the government for its recent announcement that an additional $181 million will be allocated to this program on top of the initial $1 billion that the government has put aside for all kinds of wonderful projects in our schools. The school I recently visited in the Ryan electorate, Mount Crosby State School, and its P&C were delighted to receive their money. An interesting point they made was that it seems odd that the federal government is getting involved in projects in state primary schools and state schools generally which ought to be the prerogative and under the jurisdiction of the state governments. I absolutely agreed with that sentiment—it is odd that the national government is putting in $1 billion for projects that should be within the remit of state governments.

I want to touch on some of these projects because it opens the mind as to how incompetent and negligent our state governments are. Fancy the national government of a country having to provide money to repair toilet amenities in schools—which happened at the Ironside school in my electorate—to refurbish classrooms, to install new computer and IT facilities, to upgrade playgrounds and to purchase items such as library books, sporting equipment and musical instruments. I was able to assist with this at the Rainworth Primary School in Bardon in the Ryan electorate. This is amazing stuff.

Of course, this additional $181 million will go a long way to providing a key amount of money for schools right across this country. I encourage the Ryan schools that may not have received the full amount that they are entitled to to put in their applications again and, of course, I will very strongly support them. To all the schools in the Ryan electorate, I pledge my support once again and reassure you that I will be representing you fully in getting as much support as possible. Again I ask the state government in Queensland: why are you not paying for air-conditioning at Mount Crosby State School? This is a school that the Premier of Queensland, the Deputy Premier of Queensland and the minister for education in Queensland have not visited. Not a single state minister has visited Mount Crosby State School at Karana Downs. They should stand condemned for not visiting a state school that is within the jurisdiction of the state government. (Time expired)