Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery, Senator Arbib. When will the government remove the wasteful school signs which the Australian Electoral Commission has now determined to be political advertising? Has the minister sought advice as to whether the signage also breaches any state electoral laws?

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

They would love to see those signs come down, wouldn’t they? They would also love to see an end—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Arbib, address your answer to the chair.

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

They would love to see the signs come down because they would love to see the infrastructure stop.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Arbib, resume your seat. When we have silence, we will proceed.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When we have silence, we will proceed! As I said, the time for debating these issues is at the end of question time.

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

Thank you, Mr President. They would love to see the signs come down because they would love to see the infrastructure stopped. In their 12 years in government they neglected schools, they neglected education. We were the only country in the OECD where education funding actually went backwards. This was the Howard government’s commitment to education.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

What’s on the tape?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

What’s in the email?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! We are not proceeding very fast through question time today because of the interjections on both sides.

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

It is good to see that Senator Abetz has his mojo back after spending so much time in solitary and apologising to the Senate. He has his mojo back, and it is great to see. Congratulations, Senator Abetz. Maybe you will get an email today from Jim Byrnes?

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! On both sides there needs to be order.

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

As I was saying, they had 12 years in government, and what happened to education funding? It went backwards. So when the opportunity came to invest money in schools, what did the coalition do? They voted against it. And now here we go again. All they can talk about—

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order relating to relevance. The minister is three-quarters of the way through his answer and he has specifically not answered either question with respect to when these politically motivated signs will be removed and whether the electoral acts of the states and territories have been breached. Could you draw him back to those questions, please?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Arbib, you have 34 seconds remaining to answer the question.

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

Thank you, Mr President. I do not accept the premise of the question. Can I just refer to the AEC release which came out on 7 September. The AEC says:

The AEC considers that the measures announced by the Special Minister of State will address the issues raised about the signs and remove the risk of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

There it is from the AEC. Case closed.

Can I say this about schools: they voted against the stimulus, they voted against every school getting funding, but—the hypocrisy—they still turn up for the actual presentations! (Time expired)

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on both sides! Senator Barnett, it is not fair to ask you to ask your question if you cannot be heard over some people who are being disorderly.

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Minister, is the Tasmanian State School Parents and Friends president, Jenny Grossmith, right when she describes the government’s expenditure on school signs as ‘wasteful spending’? I refer to the Examiner of 4 September, page 4.

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

This just shows the depth of the modern Liberal Party, and how desperate they are in trying to create an issue going into the Bradfield by-election. They have nothing, no policies. Where is their education policy? Who would know? Where is their jobs policy? Silence on the other side of the chamber, because they do not have a jobs policy. What do they want to do with the stimulus? They want to stop it; they want to roll it back.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Arbib, resume your seat. Senator Barnett is entitled to hear an answer. Senator Arbib, I draw your attention to the fact that you have 30 seconds remaining to answer the question.

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

So where is their policy on jobs or education? When they talk about rolling back the stimulus, what they do not tell you is what they would do. Which schools will miss out under the Mr Hockey-Mr Turnbull stimulus roll back? Which schools will not get school halls? Which schools will not get libraries? And which schools will not get new classrooms? Because this is what life would be like under the Liberal Party. (Time expired)

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When your colleagues cease interjecting, Senator Barnett, I will give you the call.

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Minister, is Leanne Wright, the Australian Education Union Tasmanian president, also correct when she says that the signs should not take precedence over supporting students? Why does the government continue to persist in wasting more than $7 million on these signs and the Julia Gillard memorial plaques?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think you should refer to someone in the other place by their correct title, Senator Barnett.

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Hon. Julia Gillard memorial plaques, Mr President.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you.

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And isn’t this yet further proof that the government’s reckless spending is simply out of control?

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

This just shows how out of touch the Liberal Party are on education in schools. Neglect on one side, but obviously they are not visiting any schools, because every school that I visit, every principal I speak to, every teacher I speak to—and let me tell you I am speaking to a lot of them—are supportive of what we are doing under the Building the Education Revolution Program. Let me tell you about one school, Berowra Public School, which I went to over a week ago.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Arbib, resume your seat. I am waiting for silence.

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

I went to Berowra Public School and had a look at their stimulus projects that had just begun. Guess what—they have been trying to get a school hall for 30 years.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting—

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

There were a few Liberal governments there as well, I might remind you, Senator Macdonald. And it is a Rudd Labor government that has delivered for Berowra, a Liberal Party seat. Let’s forget the games that the coalition is playing on education. (Time expired)