Building the Education Revolution
Wednesday, 01 September 2010 11:54
31 Aug 2010 Matters of Public Interest
Building the Education Revolution
Dr FLEGG (Moggill—LNP) (11.52 am): Recently we saw the release of the Orgill report—the interim report by the implementation task force into the Building the Education Revolution program—and it could be best described as damning. The BER program was implemented by the Rudd government for the stated purpose of stimulating the economy, yet in the interim report we find that 40 per cent of Queensland’s projects are yet to begin—two years after theglobal financial crisis for which this was supposedly part of the solution. Perhaps the Queensland government is holding back its economic stimulus. At the same time as we see the Reserve Bank ramping up interest rates to try to slow the Australian economy, the Queensland government is holding its projects in reserve.
Mr WILSON: I rise to a point of order. What the member says is untrue. I find it offensive and I ask for him to withdraw it. The Queensland government is not holding back its program.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wendt): Order! That is enough, Minister. Member for Moggill, you have been asked for a retraction.
Dr FLEGG: I was not aware that I made any personal reflection, but I withdraw if I did, Mr Deputy Speaker.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, you will unreservedly withdraw.
Dr FLEGG: I withdraw.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you.
Dr FLEGG: I note that the minister is here in the House with us now, and I would lay down the challenge to him: is he going to—
Mr WILSON: I rise to a point of order.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Moggill, please take your seat. Minister, the point of order?
Dr Flegg: Can we pause the clock, please, Mr Deputy Speaker?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Dr Flegg: This is deliberate time wasting!
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Moggill! Minister.
Mr WILSON: I find what the member has said has created an inference that is personallyinsulting. I ask him to withdraw it. The inference was that I was not in the House when he started his speech. I have been in the House from the outset.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: He has asked for a withdrawal.
Dr FLEGG: That is a load of rubbish, Mr Deputy Speaker! There is no such inference.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Moggill, take your seat, please.
Dr Flegg: Can we pause the clock?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Moggill, take your seat. I will seek advice. The second point of order will not be taken as a point of order. The member for Moggill has the call and I ask him toresume.
Dr FLEGG: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I challenge the minister in this place to address the recommendations of this report—a report funded by his own federal Labor government. The first of those recommendations, headed ‘Immediate actions’, states—
In the interest of transparency and public accountability, the Taskforce recommends that each education authority publish school specific project cost data related to BER P21 in a nationally common structure with consistent definitions.
That is something that this government has consistently refused to do, and one of the reasons such a massive amount of money has been wasted out of education in this state is that it will not look at the costings of individual projects. The task force recommends further measures: that school stakeholders should be given more say in the decisions, that they should be using a business-as-usual approach to saving money and that they should save some money out of the exorbitant fees they are charging and put them back into school building projects.
The task force also criticised governments for using BER money for backlogged maintenance and refurbishment. I note that in Queensland we paid an average of $2,829 a square metre in the public system to build these school halls when the Queensland Catholic system was able to build similar projects for $1,789—figures that this minister has constantly refused to supply for the people of Queensland.
While talking about school building projects, I note that EQ did a study on the Broadbeach StateSchool because it wanted to get its hands on a valuable three-hectare waterfront site and examined selling it off to a developer and then housing our children in a 50-storey high-rise as an experiment. This is a broke government to look at things like this. We do not want experiments with the children of Queensland stuffed into 50-storey high-rises instead of schools!(Time expired)