Page 595 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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hall, older school upgrade and a staff room upgrade. Gilmore primary school has had its facia improved and external painting. Giralang primary school has a new preschool unit, refurbishments and upgrading of facia.
I can go on, Mr Speaker, on the A to Z of school upgrades delivered in the last 18 months to two years. More capital works have been delivered in the last 18 months in schools than the Liberal Party was able to achieve in their entire term of government across the whole lot.
In terms of where we are going in delivering these commonwealth projects, should the Senate pass the legislation that will enable this money to flow into schools, I attended a briefing with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer last Friday. I have subsequently written to all school principals, and school principals will be at the meeting with the Department of Education and Training this afternoon. I have a meeting with Sandra Lambert, the coordinator-general, after I finish this speech in about 15 to 20 minutes. We will then look to get proposals from schools by the end of this month. The timetable for the first round of school pride projects requires submissions to the commonwealth within the next four to six weeks and works to commence on those minor projects which do encompass a range of capital works but which also include provision for information and communication technology.
Not everything in that first round that needs to be delivered in this current financial year will require a planning approval, for example. It could involve shade structures, covered outdoor learning areas, installation of water tanks, insulation, specialised infrastructure for support for students with a disability or special needs, and the installation or purchase of ICT facilities and equipment that are not covered by the digital education revolution. That provides plenty of scope for the quick delivery of projects into schools that do not require planning approvals. That will mean a capacity to deliver those particular projects very, very quickly. All it will require is the money to flow from the commonwealth to the territory and then on to the schools.
More significant projects that come in through some of the other funding rounds, particularly around the construction of new school halls, gymnasiums and major refurbishments of that nature, will of course require development approval. The Planning and Land Authority is geared up for this, Mr Speaker, I have met with the chief planning executive last week and will hold further meetings and seek further advice from the chief planning executive in relation to any further measures that the government may need to take, and the government will take those measures. It is important that we deliver these projects.
Fundamentally, what we see in Mr Seselja’s motion is yet another flip-flop from the Liberal opposition. They cannot make up their minds. On odd days it appears they oppose the package and on even days they support it. Or is it the other way around? In a desperate effort yesterday to gain his neo-liberal credentials—I am not sure whether he has been welcomed into that club yet—the Leader of the Opposition tried his little chest-beating exercise during the MPI, but this morning we see another about-face. It is that sort of flip-flopping; it is that sort of indecisiveness that shows why he is unfit to sit on this side of the chamber, and why he probably never will.
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