Page 593 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
the rates of non-delivery over seven years of Labor, you will see that they are not in a position to deliver. We have asked them to detail today how they will deliver this. We have not heard a single word from the minister on her ability or on the ability of her government to deliver any of these capital works, and they should at least know how they are going to do that.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Planning and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation) (10.41): I rise in support of Ms Gallagher’s amendment. I do so for a number of reasons, primarily as the amendment creates a constructive way forward for this place to work together to achieve the goals that it would appear we jointly agree on.
The first and obvious point to make is that the wording of the motion that Mr Seselja has put forward perhaps finally indicates a position from the Liberal Party on this matter. One might look at which day of the week it is—is it an odd or an even day—to determine whether the Liberal Party supports this or not. It appears we have now landed on one of those days where they do.
Perhaps the greatest risk, Mr Speaker, to the delivery of this project is the Liberal Party in the Senate, and I again invite Mr Seselja to pick up the phone—6277 4022—ring the Leader of the Opposition’s office, deal your federal party into this and maybe we might be able to get an outcome. The quicker we get an outcome through the Senate, Mr Seselja, the quicker we will be able to get on with delivering these projects.
I must make just one other observation about Mr Seselja’s contribution in this debate—that is, I think any progressive Australian would have enjoyed the irony of Mr Seselja waxing lyrical about barbed wire and children. When you cast your mind back to the Liberal Party’s position in relation to children in detention, for Mr Seselja and Mr Doszpot to start raising any concerns about barbed wire and children is really—
Mr Hargreaves: It’s breathtaking, isn’t it?
MR BARR: It is breathtaking, Mr Hargreaves, it is. Perhaps the Liberal Party might want to reflect on their position in relation to those matters before coming in here and making accusations about the government and the delivery of capital works. But the reason that paragraph 1(a) of Mr Seselja’s motion needs to be deleted is that it is fundamentally not true.
In looking at education capital works within my portfolio responsibility, more capital works have been delivered in the education portfolio in the last 18 months to two years than were delivered in the entire term of the previous Liberal government. Let me go through some of the capital works that have been delivered. At Ainslie primary school we have resurfaced all hard paved surfaces. The school has received a $650,000 older school upgrade, a roof safety system has been installed and the school has been externally painted. Alfred Deakin high school: external painting, a new disabled lift, landscaping and hard court upgrades, electrical upgrades and a new
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .