Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Education and Minister for Social Inclusion. I refer the minister to the Colbinabbin Primary School in my electorate, which has been told that it must move one of its existing classroom blocks 3.8 metres, destroying $6,000 worth of concrete ramps, power upgrades, floor coverings and other refurbishments installed only last year as a result of local school council fundraising. This is to make way for a school hall under the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program. Does the minister agree with the school council president, who has written, ‘There has been a very disappointing disregard for the real needs of this school, as assessed by the local school community. Such a waste of investment is very disappointing’?

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

I thank the member for Murray for her question. I can certainly say to the member for Murray that I agree with the statement of one of her local principals, the principal of the Nanneella Estate Primary School, who said, ‘We’re pleased to have received enough funds to rejuvenate the school and create a modern learning area.’ I certainly agree with that statement.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order on relevance. This is a very precise question about a particular school. The minister should address her attention to that school.

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

Order! The question goes to the funding to a school under a particular program.

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

I can certainly indicate to the member for Murray my support for the 200 projects in the 101 schools in her electorate and the investment of $121 million, of course an investment that she voted against. On the specific matters that she has raised in relation to a local school, I am very happy to look at those specific matters.

Can I say generally that it has been drawn to my attention that the member for Sturt, the relevant opposition shadow minister, in a media release on 16 June said this:

The Opposition has received hundreds of complaints about the mismanagement of the so-called ‘Building the Education Revolution’ …

I also note that in an article in today’s Canberra Times, ‘hundreds’ has been dropped by his office to having received ‘60 complaints’.

Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Even under your own guidance, this is not relevant to the question.

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

Order! The Deputy Prime Minister is responding to the question. I will listen very carefully to the way in which she relates the material to the question.

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

The member for Murray has raised an issue about a local school and I am making this very simple point and it is no more complicated than this: I presume that this matter is one of around 60 complaints the opposition says it has. That is a complaints’ record of 0.25 per cent, one-quarter of one per cent, for the biggest school modernisation program in the nation’s history. I will of course investigate the member for Murray’s complaint and I will respond to her directly. On the question of Building the Education Revolution, 9,500 schools and more than 24,000 projects: what is clearly lacking amongst the opposition is a sense of perspective.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. On a number of occasions, the Deputy Prime Minister has said that she will come back to the House with the answer. On a number of previous occasions, the Deputy Prime Minister—

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

Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. There is no provision in the standing orders that covers the request that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition believes she is making. Therefore, there is no point of order. It is not my duty to make critique about responses. But in the response, the Deputy Prime Minister indicated that she would respond directly to the member for Murray.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise another point of order. Following on from what you just said, on a number of occasions the minister has said she will come back to the House with an answer. I have eight questions where she said—

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

Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat.

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tuckey interjecting

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

The member for O’Connor will resume his seat. Excuse me! If the member for O’Connor would first let me deal with the matter raised by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition—and there is really no need for that sort of behaviour of slamming down that book—I simply say, in finality, to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, for the last time I hope for this question time, that there is no point of order. If the member for O’Connor has a point of order, he has the call.

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I draw your attention to the House of Representatives Practice and the many examples given of the need for ministers to answer questions, if belatedly, and the conventions and the precedents surrounding that practice, which of course has brought great credit to past governments.

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

Order! I call the member for Forde.

Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. What effect is the Building the Education Revolution program having on jobs?

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

I thank the member for his question and I know that he is concerned about supporting jobs in his local community during the days of a global recession. Of course, Building the Education Revolution is about urgently supporting jobs, small businesses and tradespeople in every community across the country during the global recession. One reason schools were chosen for this economic stimulus is that they are in every community across the country. So we are not only supporting jobs and tradespeople in the city but also supporting jobs and tradespeople in rural and regional areas. Thousands of people are having work supported to deliver these school upgrades.

As I have had cause to say in the House in the past, there are more than 24,000 projects at around 9,500 schools. I would like to take the House to just one and to its support for local jobs. At the Belgian Gardens State School in the member for Herbert’s electorate, the $3.2 million that has been received through the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program and the National School Pride Program is supporting local jobs. The builder, Dickinson Constructions Pty Ltd, is hiring a range of subcontractors, providing work to local businesses including: Amalgamated Pest Control; NatSteel, Garbutt; Townsville Concrete; A Gabrielli Construction; Scott Blocks; Corradini Engineering; G James Glass and Aluminium; Colonial Sheetmetal; Best Doors; High Performance Plumbing; K and F O’Donnell Electrical, Castletown; Cleveland Trade Centre; Project Hardware, Galton; Mark Von Senden Plastering; Alec Morrossi; and RST Airconditioning. So jobs are being supported at this local school as the school engages in the biggest school modernisation program this nation has ever seen.

Given that in this question time there have been questions about the state of the economy and the need for support for jobs, can I say to members opposite and to all members of the House that what this one example shows is how economic stimulus through the biggest school modernisation program in the nation’s history is supporting jobs for local people. That is supported on this side of the House. It is to be deeply regretted that those opposite cannot see their way clear to supporting local jobs.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Almost not surprisingly, my question is also to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. I refer the minister to a congratulatory letter she wrote to the Australian Technical College - Spencer Gulf and Outback, announcing that it had received a $75,000 National School Pride Program grant to extend a shed as part of the Building the Education Revolution program. As the college has informed the students that it will close at the end of the year, does the minister believe that this $75,000 represents value for money?

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

I thank the member for Grey for his question. I understand the member for Grey has been interested in and concerned about the future of this Australian technical college. Of course, when the government was elected we were elected with a commitment to deal with the future of each ATC, and there have been different solutions entered into in different parts of the country.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

My comments go to the question of whether or not it is closing, so that is directly relevant—

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

The minister will resume her seat. The Manager of Opposition Business has a point of order.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The minister was not asked a question about trade training centres and Australian technical colleges. She was asked a question about the National School Pride Program. A $75,000 grant took—

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

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Leader of the House has a point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order regarding disruptive conduct. It is very clear that those opposite are embarking on a deliberate strategy to disrupt question time. This year, we have had over 1,000 points of order moved by those opposite, more than 200 from the Manager of Opposition Business, and I would ask you to take action against clearly frivolous points of order.

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

Order! The Manager of Opposition Business has raised a point of order that can be covered by one word: relevance. I am in no position to know the actuality of where this technical college came from, but I would assume that, in the preamble to the response, the Deputy Prime Minister was setting out the circumstances of that technical college, and I am not in a position to adjudicate. That is why an occupant of the chair is in no position to direct the response. On the point of order from the Leader of the House, these are matters for judgment by the chair. I have listened to his point but, on this occasion, I do not agree with him. The Deputy Prime Minister is responding to the question.

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

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I was asked by the member for Grey about the ATC in his electorate. I am responding directly on the ATC in his electorate. His question is asking me, effectively: is that ATC closing and, consequently, is the money being spent on a facility that is closing? I could not be more relevant than (a) to explain whether or not this ATC is closing and (b) to explain what is happening with the Building the Education Revolution money.

On the first point, the future of the ATC he directly asked me about, which I was addressing before the point of order stopped me speaking, the future of that ATC is still under discussion and being worked on. A decision to close that ATC finally has not been taken. On the question of the Building the Education Revolution money and how it relates to the ATC I was asked about, it is dealt with under the guidelines in the same way as the way any other proposition about the possibility that a school may amalgamate or close—that is, money is not spent on that school until the question of amalgamation or closure is clear. So the answer to the member’s question is that the money is being held; it is not being spent. As the future of the ATC is still being worked through—

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I feel as though the minister is somewhat misleading the House in that the students—

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

The member for Grey will resume his seat. It is fairly disingenuous to indicate that, under the standing orders, the member is able to stand on his feet and argue a case. That is not the purpose of the point of order. To those who are brave outside this chamber in comments about conduct and who have not offered submissions about it, I simply say that they should tread carefully. We have all collectively—those of us who were not elected at the last election—allowed a situation to develop where we on different days have different opinions about what should be done, but I caution the member for Grey for following the bad habits of others. The Deputy Prime Minister is responding to the question.

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

Can I conclude by saying to the member for Grey: obviously, the money will not be spent until the future of the facility to which he refers is clear.