Legislative Council Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Building the Education Revolution BUILDING THE EDUCATION REVOLUTION The Hon. J.A. DARLEY Legislative Council BUILDING THE EDUCATION REVOLUTION The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (14:47): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Industrial Relations a question regarding SafeWork SA and the Building the Education Revolution. Leave granted. The Hon. J.A. DARLEY Legislative Council The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: Earlier this year we were advised by a constituent that staff from SafeWork SA were taken off existing duties to urgently investigate a number of issues arising from the Building the Education Revolution projects. This included investigating builders' licence and registration details and also examining safe work methods and practices in connection with occupational health and safety. My questions are: 1.	What was the actual cost to the South Australian government to do this work? 2.	Was it paid for by the commonwealth? 3.	What was the result of these investigations? 4.	Was any noncompliance detected, and, if so, which building projects were involved, where were they located, and what action was taken? The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY Legislative Council Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (14:48): I assume if that action were taken, it was probably earlier this year before I became the minister. I am not aware of any specific action being taken since I have been the minister. However, I will undertake to investigate the matter for the honourable member and bring back a reply. I will just say in relation to Building the Education Revolution that it has been a huge success in this state in terms of— Members interjecting: The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY Legislative Council The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, members opposite should have a look at some of the graphs. There was a very good one in The Australian this morning about the performance of the Australian economy relative to that of most of our OECD partners; that is, how little has been added to the debt in this country to avoid the impacts of the global financial crisis relative to that happening in other countries. There is no doubt that this country has performed splendidly because of the appropriate level of stimulation given to the economy during that period and, of course, as the federal Treasurer told us yesterday, it will enable the debt that was incurred to be paid off much more quickly because we have been so successful in dealing with the impact of this crisis. I think we have approximately 800 schools in this state. The whole point of the exercise was to ensure that we stimulated the economy. To be effective, that work needed to be done very quickly and it was. I believe, and I put on record, that Rod Hook and his people at the Office of Major Projects and Infrastructure have done an absolutely fantastic job in this state in ensuring that that money, notwithstanding the fact that it had to be spent very quickly, has been spent in a responsible manner. I think this state has been able to ensure that the money for the Building the Education Revolution was spent at least as well, if not much better, than in other states. Notwithstanding that, given the speed and the scale of it, it is inevitable that there would be some pressure, and so it certainly is appropriate that the state would have the appropriate level of scrutiny over that expenditure. However, I put on record that I believe that not only have the BER and other stimulus fund projects succeeded magnificently in minimising the impact of the global financial crisis on this country but also the people responsible for it in this state, particularly Rod Hook and his team, deserve all the credit for managing such a large outlay of funds in a relatively small time in the best possible manner.