Page 3504 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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Rainwater will be captured and stored and used for garden irrigation and toilets. Natural cross-flow ventilation will cool the building. Solar power will be generated and excess energy will be returned to the grid. The school will be paid for the excess energy, indeed all of the energy generated, under ACT Labor’s feed-in tariff.
Labor is determined to ensure that ACT students get the environmental education that they need to face the future. We are doing this by working with the federal government on the national curriculum. We are doing this by working with the federal government on national partnerships to ensure that we have the best teachers in our classrooms. We are doing so by working with federal Labor to ensure that all new and upgraded school buildings are as environmentally friendly as possible. I am very pleased that the new building at Gold Creek, funded by the federal government, and the BER projects across ACT schools complement the work that the ACT government is doing in building more environmentally friendly schools.
The recent interim report of the Orgill committee found that, when it comes to delivering BER projects, the ACT government has done a good job. The interim report finds the ACT Department of Education and Training achieved the lowest cost averages at about $1,800 per square metre of gross floor area. This compares favourably with all other jurisdictions, and indeed with all other school systems in Australia. All projects in ACT public schools started on time and they are due to finish on time, meeting the stimulus objective.
MR SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Ms Porter?
MS PORTER: Thank you. Minister, can you give the Assembly an indication of the stimulus impact of the investments Labor is making in education in the ACT?
MR BARR: I am sure that we are all well aware of the massive educational value of the BER projects. Anyone who has visited a school would know just how much the school communities value them. Certainly, I believe Mr Doszpot and Mr Coe are now aware of this, having taken the opportunity to attend a BER opening this morning.
We must remember that this historic investment is also about keeping Canberrans in work. There are two parties in this place who believe in keeping Canberrans in work—Labor and the Greens. But for the Liberals, this is a foreign notion. Starting from next Monday, they want to start sacking 12,000 Canberrans. But because Labor believe in keeping Canberrans in jobs, we have been proud to work with the federal government to deliver BER projects.
To deliver the BER program, seven companies have been engaged in 152 projects across 82 ACT public sites. Each of the P21 projects at public schools involves facilities that are specifically designed for each site rather than the purchase of generic structures that would be constructed outside of the territory. This increases opportunities for local architects, design teams, engineers, quantity surveyors, cost planners, builders and associated tradespeople to get work on these projects.
In addition, specialist consultants in occupational health and safety and environmentally sustainable design have been engaged to work with the construction
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