Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to do something outrageous tonight: to highlight the great work taking place under the Building the Education Revolution Program. I say outrageous because, from what you would read in the paper, nothing good is happening out there. However, this is not what we are finding on the ground. Overall, this program has supported the construction industry and is improving infrastructure at all our schools. Overall, the BER program has been a tremendous success for schools and communities across Australia.

However it would be easy to assume the program has been a rorted failure based on the way it has been misrepresented in much of the conservative media. News Limited, in particular the Australian, is running an extremely one-sided campaign against this program. They are deploying unprecedented resources to nit pick and find examples to suit their own agenda. In doing so they are completely neglecting many of the real stories out there on the school grounds. The vast majority of school principals and school communities are happy with the government’s investment. I, like all the members in the chamber, have been all to my schools and all of them are exceptionally happy.

The recent ANAO report highlighted this fact with the following statement:

Overall, there are some positive early indicators that the program is making progress toward achieving its intended outcomes.

Lead economic indicators, including construction approvals, show that the introduction of BER P21 contributed to a reversal in the decline in non-residential construction activity that resulted from the global financial crisis.

Education industry stakeholders, including peak bodies, Education Authorities and a substantial majority of school principals have also been positive about the improvement in primary school facilities that will result from the program.

Recently I visited Essex Heights Primary School, one of my great local schools undergoing a massive transformation as a result of the BER and the Victorian government’s Building Futures program. The Essex Heights community—staff, parents and students—are absolutely thrilled with their BER project, a multipurpose facility. Essex Heights is a school that has been crying out for investment for many years and they are delighted that the federal government has stepped in to fund their new hall, which will benefit students, staff and the community well into the future. They also got a double whammy, getting $6 million in the state budget to rebuild the entire school—and, can I tell you, it needs to be done.

The school’s principal invited the Australian along to join with senior staff, the parent’s association, and the project’s builders for a tour of their under-construction hall. Sadly, the Australian showed no interest in taking up this offer to come and visit a good news story about the BER project. But the rest of us were there, and we had a great time.

During my visit I spoke with senior personnel from the construction company working on this project. They are a very large firm and are involved in over 25 BER constructions. They are very supportive of the program and the essential stimulus that it has provided in their sector of the economy. Critically for the company, the stimulus came at a time when private capital was withdrawing from development and construction activity. As a direct result of this program, they have created over 800 new jobs across Australia to handle their increased workload. Many of those jobs are apprentices. This is an apt example of the massive benefits that this program is delivering to the construction industry.

Even more importantly, the program is leaving behind vital infrastructure in our schools that will be enjoyed for many years to come. It was an absolute delight to stand in the middle of this big empty building to see the joy on the PE teacher’s face. He had not been inside, and he was working out where his basketball court was finally going to be. It was a delight to see all the parents, too. These are the stories overlooked by the Australian, which seem content with assessing the overall merits of the program on the basis of a number of isolated examples—and confecting many of those. On Sunday, I opened my first BER program at St Mary Magdalene’s Catholic School in Chadstone, another school delighted with the outcome of their program.

The irrelevant and inapplicable comparisons made between BER projects and commercial fit-outs or private dwellings do little to support the case that the Australian is running. As the ANAO report states:

In many cases, concerns from principals and community members about value-for-money relate to a misunderstanding of the building standards Education Authorities are expected to adhere to in building education infrastructure.

The fact is that the ANAO audit found that the BER program had delivered good value for money. The benefits to our school communities, to our children’s education and to the construction industry as a result of the BER program are unequivocal. The communities in my electorate are all very excited about the projects that we are going to be leaving behind for them.