Additional Comments
Primary Schools for the Twenty First Century Program
Senator Sarah-Hanson-Young
The Australian Greens supported the National Building and
Jobs Plan stimulus package in the Senate which provided the $14 billion for the
Building the Education Revolution. We supported the stimulus package as an
important mechanism to protect Australia from a recession and to keep people in
work. We are satisfied with the evidence presented to various committees by
Treasury Secretary Ken Henry that the Australian economy would have been in
recession without the stimulus package.
Furthermore, the Greens support the dual aims of the
Building the Education Revolution:
-
To provide economic stimulus to national and local communities;
and
-
To provide much needed infrastructure to our schools.
There has been massive underinvestment in our schools,
particularly our public schools, for decades. Both sides of politics have
neglected the infrastructure needs of our schools for too long. The directing
of stimulus funds to school infrastructure is welcome as a means of providing
much needed infrastructure while supporting local jobs.
Schools communities and students have benefited from the
investment under the BER. However, the evidence before the Committee has raised
genuine concerns about the implementation of the BER program. In particular, we
share the concerns raised in a number of submissions about the targeting of the
stimulus funds and the lack of flexibility for schools in meeting their
specific needs. While we appreciate the urgency of getting the stimulus funding
out into the economy quickly, we believe the program could have been better
targeted. Some schools will obviously have more need than others for particular
infrastructure and the program has not been sufficiently able to take the needs
of schools into account.
Many schools have also clearly been frustrated in their
attempts to ensure the infrastructure they receive is right for their school.
We note the concerns raised by many submissions about the lack of genuine
consultation and flexibility in the roll out of the program. It is unfortunate
that the program could not have provided greater flexibility for schools to be
more involved in determining the infrastructure they actually receive under the
program.
As with all spending of public money and particularly with
an amount of over $14 billion, greater oversight, consultation and transparency
in the delivery of the program are essential.
Senator Hanson-Young
Greens' Spokesperson for Education
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