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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-11 Daily Xml
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BUILDING THE EDUCATION REVOLUTION

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:43): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure. Why did the minister say to the house on 6 May in relation to the federal BER program:

I will tell you how many complaints I have had across my desk from these schools. How many have come across my desk? None; zero!

when the Eden Hills Primary School wrote to the minister over six weeks ago complaining about the BER program?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (15:43): It may well be that the Eden Hills school did do that. I will see if it has been sent up to me yet. I have no recollection of seeing it. There are something like 570 of these jobs contracted; there will be, I think, about 700 builds at the end of it. They are proceeding faster, better, more efficiently and more economically—at a better price—than anywhere else in Australia.

The member really does feel himself now that he has those three votes behind him. We have seen a lot of deputy leaders come and go, and most of them had a slightly stronger base than being the last man standing, so I would not get too cocky just yet.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: One, two three, four, five!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: My goodness me!

The SPEAKER: Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I will say again that it may well be that that matter has not come to me. Regrettably—and my thoughts are with him—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: They are pig-ignorant. I was about to say, Madam Speaker, that Rod Hook has done a tremendous job on this. He is on sick leave, and my thoughts are with him. We would certainly like him back soon, but we do not want him back before he is well. It may well be that it has not come across my desk yet, but I will return to the point, Madam Speaker. Of those 700 jobs, if this is the best that they can do, to find that six weeks ago one school wrote to me—and I do not know what that issue is; I am sure that I will find out soon, and I hope to find out before the end of this week. But, if they can tell me that out of 700 builds one school has raised an issue with me, then I would say there is no better testament to the success of this program, my credibility—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am told by the man with three votes that I have no credibility.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Two.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Two votes, and his own. He may have voted for himself twice, who knows. The truth of this matter, and the seriousness of it, is that, from 700 builds, I allegedly—and I will look for the letter—have had one complaint. I would have thought that that is an outstanding return on that. It is regrettable, and I suggest that perhaps these people talk to the head of the Master Builders Association about the success of this program and the way industry has worked with the government.

But, make no mistake, they have been opposed to these schools getting these buildings every step of the way. They would have voted against the funding of it; they did in Canberra. They opposed the schools getting the building. We will have the courage to deliver to these people the buildings that they have fundraised and asked for for years.

I am quite happy to write, if they would like, to every one of these schools—every one of the school councils, every one of the principals—and have the minister say, 'They didn't want you to have this program.' I do point out that no-one was forced to have the building, and we did not have anyone say, 'Please, please, don't do this for us.' It has been an outstanding success, because of South Australian people, South Australian businesses. You are churlish. You didn't like it, you never liked it, and you would be happier if these people had never got the buildings.

The SPEAKER: Does the member for MacKillop still have a point of order?

Mr WILLIAMS: The point of order was to the relevance of the question, which was about the minister's credibility, not about the program.

The SPEAKER: I don't think there was a point of order—but we will move on. The member for Unley.

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