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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-23 Daily Xml
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MATTERS OF INTEREST

BUILDING THE EDUCATION REVOLUTION

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:20): The Building the Education Revolution has come under considerable scrutiny, as it should, but there is another side of the story that needs to be told. It is good, then, to note the Orgill report to get balance on this large nationwide project other than the criticism emanating from the federal opposition or the Murdoch press.

This is not to suggest that the program is trouble-free, as anyone building a house would appreciate, but one appreciates what the program has achieved both in infrastructure and economic terms. The report also sheds interesting light on the opposition's condemnation of the nation building project. The Catholic and independent sector universally got it right in terms of value for money, design and deadlines, is one claim. New South Wales universally stuffed up, is another claim. The number of complaints overwhelms any claim for the wisdom or success of the BER and so on.

Little time has been given in the media to the praise by interested parties like school communities, principals and builders. One assumes, on the face of it, that the federal member for Sturt (Mr Christopher Pyne) and state shadow minister, Vickie Chapman, privately support the initiative given their recent attendance at the official opening of the Linden Park Primary School BER, though we know for a fact that neither supported it as a policy.

Another interesting point that has no media interest is wealthy private schools receiving substantial BER money of around $2 million and then raising another $1 million or so to significantly rejig their project. Have examples of this raised the media's ire regarding the fairness of distribution to well-off private schools?

So what are some people saying about the initiative? At the opening of the $4.8 million Linden Park Primary BER extensions, which I point out included a grant of $1.9 million under the Howard government, the member for Sturt, Christopher Pyne, said:

I am very pleased to be part of the opening of these new school buildings...a great school is made much better by having tremendous facilities...it is going to be a gold standard for all other primary schools across my electorate.

And he continues his superlatives of appreciation which, again, are the antithesis of his parliamentary and public utterances. What has the local media said? It has saved many in the building industry: the source of this is the Master Builders Association. In South Australia, there was a $1.3 billion budget, 437 projects, 1,571 contractors, a total of 15,182 workers, 1,883 apprentices and a further 96 of Indigenous background.

Rod Hook and other experts note the efficient South Australian rollout and the jobs and skills that were saved. Politicians note the quiet thanks of builders at BER ceremonies. The Institute of Architects is not totally happy, though, on design conformity, although the projects I have seen are certainly brilliant additions to schools.

What does the Orgill report say in reply to the vitriol published in the national press and publicly mouthed by the federal opposition? Firstly, let us consider the scope of the project: around 24,000 projects across 9,000 schools, a package of $16 billion in a total stimulus package of $42 billion, supporting and retaining 120,000 jobs, building and supporting school communities and underpinning economic activity across the country.

What about comparison of costs of state and independent school systems? Catholic schools delivered better in the three Eastern States, the reverse being true in the other three. That is on page 8 of the Orgill report. Seventeen schools have not received value for money, 13 in the New South Wales government system: 17 government schools out of around 9,000 across the country.

I urge any detractor of the BER project to read how value for money is defined and how it reflects particularly on the New South Wales projects. As a strong generalisation, this report paints a very different picture to the pogrom run by The Australian and the opposition. Finally, what does this report say on the primary thrust of the BER project, namely, the economic stimulus plan? It worked: it achieved its aims.

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