Page 1003 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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MR SPEAKER: On the point of order, Mr Barr?
MR BARR: Mr Speaker, the building the education revolution program is being delivered in ACT public schools by the ACT government. If Mrs Dunne had paid any attention, she would have seen in last year’s budget papers the allocation from the commonwealth.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Barr. Mrs Dunne, there is no point of order. Because of delivery by the ACT government, I think Mr Barr can answer the question.
MR BARR: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I do note just how desperate Mrs Dunne is not to hear about what is going on in ACT schools. The building the education revolution initiative is an Australian government funded initiative, which is being delivered in partnership with the ACT government, the Catholic Education Office and independent schools through the Block Grant Authority. This program is seeing an unprecedented level of investment in ACT schools.
To give you some information, ACT public schools are receiving $152.9 million in funding made up of $12.7 million as part of the national school pride program and $140.2 million for the primary schools of the 21st century program. For the primary schools of the 21st century program element of the building the education revolution, 38 Catholic and independent schools in the ACT are receiving $85 million in federal government funding for 62 separate programs. Under the national school pride component, 44 Catholic and independent schools in the ACT are receiving $6.8 million in federal government funding. So 152 projects of varying scale are occurring across 82 separate ACT public school sites.
This is a huge investment in our schools and a huge undertaking for the schools and for the department. Under the national school pride program, we have 84 projects in our public schools. These include, to name but a few, the conversion of a hall into a new library for Garran primary school, the refurbishment of Curtin primary school’s library, internal painting at Amaroo school, upgrading the front entries for Fadden and Mawson primary schools, new playground play structures for many schools across the ACT; and new ICT investment by way of interactive whiteboards for Campbell and Gordon primary schools.
Mr Speaker, I can advise that 83 public schools national school pride projects have been completed in the ACT. When the final project at the O’Connor cooperative school is completed later this month, it is likely that the ACT will be the first jurisdiction in Australia to complete all of our projects under this program. The ACT is also well advanced on its 68 primary schools for the 21st century projects in public schools. These are larger projects, such as constructing or refurbishing school halls, libraries and teaching and learning areas. I can advise that the ACT is well ahead of other jurisdictions in beginning and completing these projects.
At the start of this year, 82 per cent of projects in ACT public schools had commenced construction compared to the national average of 50 per cent, and 4.6 per cent of ACT public school projects had already been completed compared to two per
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