House of Assembly Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time School Maintenance Grant Program School Maintenance Grant Program Mr HUGHES House of Assembly Giles School Maintenance Grant Program Mr HUGHES (Giles) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. What outcomes will the state government's maintenance grant program deliver to schools and the community? The Hon. S.E. CLOSE House of Assembly Port Adelaide Minister for Education and Child Development Minister for the Public Sector School Maintenance Grant Program The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:47): I am very pleased to answer this question for a number of reasons, and one is that when we spend money on schools naturally we are spending money simply on the fabric of the school, making sure that it is in reasonable shape. But we are actually spending money also in the local community in the smaller works to create jobs, to allow people to have some work to do for the government. But, even more than that, what we are doing is sending signals to the teachers and to the students in those institutions that they are worth spending money on. Whether it is maintenance works or more substantial building works, one of the features I have noticed in going around to schools is that the community inside that school takes enormous pride in work that is done to make their school look and function better. At a time when we really want students to pay attention to their schooling, we need them to attend and we need them to complete school and we need them to do their best, and to demonstrate an investment in their infrastructure is tremendously powerful. The specific of the question that the member has asked is about the maintenance grant program, and some members will already be aware, if the postal system has worked sufficiently quickly, that I have written to them to inform them of grants that have gone out in the last week or so to schools for their maintenance, and I won't exhaustively go through them. I can give an example for the member for Giles: the Coober Pedy Area School is receiving $200,000 for air-conditioning and dust extraction upgrades; Fisk Street and Long Street primary schools are receiving $140,000 and $215,000, respectively, for bitumen upgrades; Stuart High School is receiving bitumen upgrades to the value of $205,000; and Whyalla High School is receiving $280,000 for asbestos removal. Altogether, we have been able to allocate $12 million under the maintenance grant program. The variety of works will include not only the air conditioning but also repairing gutters, roofs, play areas, sewerage—all of the things that we as homeowners have to pay attention to. It is excellent that we are able to also provide that for some of these schools.