Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and School Curriculum Standards) Share this | Hansard source

The Building the Education Revolution has been a disaster anyway, Senator Bernardi, but at least we now know it is a shambles. It never would have been uncovered if it were not for the Senate and for the Auditor-General, otherwise the government would have got away with it. It has been the greatest failure of implementation of public policy I can think of and it has cost this country billions and billions of dollars. It is all very well for Mr Rudd to go on about the Senate, that it is all the Senate’s fault, that the Senate have failed and that they have wasted time. I can honestly say that if it had not been for the Senate, this government would have done worse than it has.

I think there is great talent in the Australian Labor Party and there are many people who no doubt will make a significant contribution in the future.