...basically every time they turn up to school every day they just see right in front of them an example of the Gillard Government’s incompetence when it comes to the BER.
28 February 2011
INTERVIEW WITH RAY HADLEY ON RADIO 2GB
WAUBRA PRIMARY SCHOOL BER PROJECT
Subjects: Waubra primary School BER fiasco.
E&OE……………………….…………………………………………………………………
RAY HADLEY:
Now speaking of schools, I’m indebted to Dan Tehan who’s a Federal Liberal MP in Victoria, I think the seat is Wannon – he’ll tell me whether I’m right or not. There’s a story today about the BER and it’s published in the Herald Sun. I’ll let the local Member tell you all about it – he’s phoned the program. G’Day Dan.
DAN TEHAN:
G’Day Ray – How are you?
RAY HADLEY:
Not bad – this school – is it called Waubra? Is that what it’s called?
DAN TEHAN:
Yeah Waubra, that’s right – it’s a small town outside of Ballarat and look they’ve been delivered brand new class rooms under the BER
RAY HADLEY:
Right.
DAN TEHAN:
But unfortunately they haven’t been fitted out so the students at the moment are studying in portables looking at their brand new class rooms which they can’t get in to and they’ve now been in these portables for over a year and basically every time they turn up to school every day they just see right in front of them an example of the Gillard Government’s incompetence when it comes to the BER.
RAY HADLEY:
There’s a little photo of a little fella who would probably be in kinda or year one sitting at a desk and looking at the chain wire fence and the school in the background. Is there any intention of the Federal Government or the State Government in Victoria to finish the job and fit them out?
DAN TEHAN:
Well there is but they just won’t get on with it and do it and sadly the students suffer. These portable classrooms are on their football oval – two thirds of their playground has been taken away from them and at the moment the parents and the Principal last week had a meeting to see whether they should reduce the school hours because of the close environment which the students are having to operate both studying and playing in.
RAY HADLEY:
The Victorian Education Minister who another one with a mop and bucket – mopping up after his predecessor said they’d make an urgent inquiry into the latest example of the BER mess –now that’s a Coalition Government in Victoria replacing the previous Labor Government. But you say a small school – 45 students – and this has been buggered up as well.
DAN TEHAN:
This has been buggered up. It’s been buggered up for over a year – look I can tell you there’s about 5 or 6 more examples in the seat of Wannon and it’s about time that Julia Gillard – whose program this is – took some responsibility and made sure this program was properly implemented. It’s gone on for too long, there’s been too much waste, too much inaction and she really needs to take responsibility for it.
RAY HADLEY:
And to a certain extent, Dan, you got exactly in Victoria what we got in NSW, you needed infrastructure, it was administered by the Department of Education and no-one got value for money, either there, when you compare the Victorian Public School system with the Private School system, particularly the Catholic School system, they got value for money, the public schools didn’t.
DAN TEHAN:
Ray, I couldn’t agree more. That’s the sad part about it – it parents and school communities had have been given responsibility for implementing – you would think that it all would have worked extremely well – because that’s how it worked with the Catholic system and there is shining example after shining example within the Catholic system. Sadly the Education bureaucrats in Victoria have messed it up and the Gillard Government should’ve taken the decision, they knew this was happening early on to give the funding directly to school communities so that they could: A: get the buildings they wanted and B: make sure they got value for money.
RAY HADLEY:
Ok – it doesn’t change no matter where you are across the country. Thanks Dan.
DAN TEHAN:
No problems Ray – thank you.
RAY HADLEY:
Federal Liberal MP, Dan Tehan, Member for the seat of Wannon in Victoria. Just another BER fiasco.
