SCHOOLS, ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:45): I rise today to talk about the great excitement around our primary schools at the moment as they put in their bids for their share of $1 billion worth of government money to be spent in South Australia, courtesy of the Rudd government's stimulus package. It is fantastic to see that, after 10½ years of underfunding by the Howard government, our schools will now catch up—and catch up very quickly.

Over the past 10 years, most of the burden of the maintenance of our schools and new building projects has been left to the state government to fund and, with this injection of federal money, we will see a great new era in all our schools in this state. I will report on a few schools I have been to see in my electorate about the money, which has to be delivered through the Department of Education and Children's Services here in South Australia.

I have been speaking to the principals, to the governing councils and to the parents. It was my pleasure to be at Woodcroft Primary, the biggest primary school in the state, with the principal, the governing council and the parents, to step out the size of the new multipurpose hall. Schools can get a new library, a new multipurpose hall, new classrooms or refurbishment of existing libraries, halls and classrooms.

Because Woodcroft Primary is the biggest school, and it will get the full $3 million, it was decided that it would build a new multipurpose hall so that it could fit in all its students for assemblies and other activities, such as its grade 7 graduation, which I am always happy to get along to each December, at the end of the school year.

At Hackham East Primary School, they are looking to replace all the early primary classrooms, which are very old and stuffy and contain asbestos. Of course, the school community—the principal, teachers, parents and students—are very excited that many of these old buildings will be demolished and replaced.

The bids for the first tranche of replacements closed last Friday, and I understand that they will go to the federal government to be either ticked off or sent back for some changes to be made. I believe that it was oversubscribed. We need 20 per cent the projects to be underway in the next month or so, and the deadline for the 40 per cent of the second tranche will be in June and, in December, the final 40 per cent will be undertaken.

We will actually get the work happening and people in the local areas will be employed or kept in jobs, as it is very important that, in the global financial crisis, we do not let our unemployment climb too high, which is a big fear not just in South Australia but right around the world. I think that the Rudd package has been perfectly timed to create a lot of work for people in the regions.

So, before the local brickmakers, carpenters, plumbers and electricians start laying off staff because of any downturn in the economy, they will have a new set of work on their books and can keep people employed. It is an exciting time in our schools, and I wanted to report to parliament that the principals, teachers, parents and students are very pleased with the way things are going, and they are looking forward to an exciting new era in their local schools.

I also commend the South Australian government and cabinet for saving Glenthorne Farm as open space. The University of Adelaide has the land under a deed that stipulates that it is not allowed to have housing on the land; in fact, it was meant to be used to grow new varieties of grapes that are tougher and more resistant to drought and hot weather. The heatwaves that we have experienced in the past two seasons have really knocked our grapes about and had a fairly detrimental impact on our vintage.

In particular, I would like to thank Philip White, a leading wine critic in this state. He is almost a constituent of mine. We are not sure whether he is in my electorate or the next one over. Philip has done a fantastic job. He got the deed of title to Glenthorne Farm when the University of Adelaide did not even have a copy of it. He read through it and he led the fight to have that area retained as open space. The next move will be to work with the University of Adelaide to achieve what is in that deed, and that is to have experimental grape crops there so that we can have a more efficient wine industry.