Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

The Liberal Party and National Party senators made a great deal out of the inquiry that they put forward in the Senate, and I did promise to follow up and check on the figures. Can I advise the Senate that the committee secretariat advise on their website that a total of 33 submissions have been received. Senator Fifield wrote to every school principal in Victoria—and we are talking about almost 2,200 schools that he wrote to—asking them to complain and asking them to put in a submission. Of those 2,200, how many put in a submission? A grand total of 12. And it gets better for Senator Fifield and the Liberal Party. Of those 12, six had positive things to say. There were six complaints out of 2,200 principals. That is what they think about the Building the Education Revolution. Did Senator Fifield put his own submission in? You would be surprised, but he had no submission. (Time expired)