James Bidgood (Dawson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on the rollout of the Building the Education Revolution program and the impact this is having on local jobs?

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

I thank the member for Dawson for his question. I know he is a great supporter of his local schools. I have a great story to tell him about Queensland because we have received notification that the first Primary Schools for the 21st Century project has been completed. It has been completed at Yandina State School in Queensland. Yesterday the kids there started to use their new library, their new ICT centre and their refurbished classrooms, and they are already using the covered outdoor learning area.

Just to give you an indication of these facilities, I will show you a photograph of a new building constructed at Yandina State School as a result of the Building the Education Revolution program. This photograph is of the covered outdoor learning area, complete with drinking taps—part of the Building the Education Revolution program.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Mr Speaker, you have previously upheld the ruling of a former Speaker, your own father, that that sort of thing is out of order. I ask you to rule her out of order.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not think I have quite done what the member for Mackellar suggested. I will watch the way in which the Deputy Prime Minister uses the photos that she has.

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

Finally, I have been supplied with a photo of how the new library looks. It seems to me that it would be a very odd world in which it was out of order to celebrate the construction of a new library for children in a school in Queensland.

Of course, this school is in the member for Fairfax’s electorate. Because of the poor judgment of the Leader of the Opposition, the member is now in a position where he has to go to Yandina State School and explain to them why he opposed this rebuilding and refurbishment of their school. It was poor judgment. But of course it is worse for the member for Fairfax than that. Because of the poor judgment of the Leader of the Opposition, he also has to go to his local community and try to explain the Leader of the Opposition’s claim that this stimulus package has not created one job.

Well, how is he going to explain that to the local tradies who worked on this school project? How is he going to explain it to R&R Earthmoving from Mooloolah; to Perren and Penny Plumbing, and G. James Glass and Aluminium from Kunda Park; to Literok Painting from Peregian Beach; to Epsilon Gulf Carpentry from Bli Bli; to Spence Doors and Joinery from Forest Glen; and, last but by no means least, to Rosemount Roofing, Harpers Electrical and Data, and Master Kelwin Floors from Nambour? All of them worked on this project. How is he going to explain to them the opposition’s claim and, particularly, the poor judgment of the Leader of the Opposition in saying that this did not support one local job?

The good news is not just in that school in Queensland; it is throughout the country. Where this parliament sits and meets today, I am happy to be able to advise the parliament that the ACT government expects the first round of the National School Pride Program and the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program to support 250 on-site jobs for people in Canberra, including around 50 apprentices—that is a rate of 20 per cent being apprentices, and that is just fantastic. It is supporting local jobs. People out in schools and people in building and construction know how valuable this program is. That is why Ron Mitchell from Trend Windows and Doors in the ACT wrote to me and said:

Not only am I now more secure in my job but so too are my fellow employees, my subcontractors and even the people who work for my suppliers, right down to the blokes down the road I buy screws from.

So those are the words of a local tradesperson. In the words of the Executive Director of Master Builders Association, Rob Stewart:

The timing has been brilliant for the industry because I think if we hadn’t had this the commercial side of the industry would have been sliding into a downturn. It has given the industry a real lifeline, probably for the next 2½ years.

So, whilst the opposition guffaws, squeals and exercises poor judgment, this government is getting on with the job of building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow while supporting jobs today.