Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

where the government says one thing one day and does the exact opposite the next day, and still places hand on heart, saying, ‘We are committed to our election policies.’ I note in the chamber Senator Mason, a very excellent advocate for education in this country. He has pursued the issue of the education revolution and shown how hollow it actually is, that it was a mere two words, ‘education revolution’, which meant nothing, especially for the young people of Australia. But for the cash splash, the so-called ‘socks and jocks revolution’, the young people of Australia now are going to be denied a real education revolution. We know the ‘laptops for everybody’ was a disaster. We now know, courtesy of Senator Mason’s questioning at Senate estimates, that the school-building program is also a farce. Schools that were slated to be closed down over the next year or two will still have funding provided to them for new facilities. Indeed, I became aware of one school recently that were given $250,000 for a new facility. They were able to get it for $150,000, but when they put in their submission the department bounced it back to them, saying: ‘No, no, no, naughty people! It has to cost $250,000.’ This is how money is being squandered and that is why the Education Investment Fund has to be raided to the tune of $2,500 million.