In speaking to the Hon. Don Harwin's important motion I would first congratulate him and the Hon. John Ajaka on their passionate speeches. Thank goodness this motion has been moved today.

I doubt very much whether the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, would have intervened had it not been for the pressure of the Hon. Don Harwin—

The Hon. Don Harwin: Maybe she hasn't.

The Hon. ROBYN PARKER: Perhaps Julia Gillard has not intervened. I will put that on the record. Maybe that is not the case. We were led to believe that someone finally had some sense—certainly that would not be the State Government. It would have to be the Federal Government finally intervening to put a stop to an absolute debacle. Sadly, that is not the only debacle for the Building the Education Revolution program. The difference between the Building the Education Revolution program managed by the State Government with Federal Government funding and the programs run by the former Howard Government is significant. The highly successful Investing in Our Schools Program was vastly different in terms of its management. The difference was that school communities were involved, they were consulted about their needs and what they wanted, and they relished the opportunity to say what their individual schools needed. In many cases, the schools' needs—basic things such as the maintenance of toilet blocks and the provision of carpet in classrooms—should have been met by the State Government.

The difference was that school communities were consulted, school communities were involved, and school communities were able to manage the rollout of those programs. The programs were highly successful. In fact, they were so successful that during budget estimates hearings the State Director General of Education and Training spoke about investing in our schools. He said that the Building the Education Revolution program sought to mirror some of that success, in terms of the likely take-up of the program. The difference between the Building the Education Revolution program and the programs managed by the Howard Government is a lack of consultation. This simply shines through when it comes to Abbotsford Public School.

The principal, teachers, parents and students must be shaking their heads at a total lack of common sense when it comes to the Building the Education Revolution program. This is nothing short of a massive stuff-up on the part of this Government. It is no wonder the Prime Minister will not attend the State Labor Conference; the Federal Government must be so embarrassed at such appalling mismanagement. In comparison with other States, the New South Wales Government's mismanagement is out there for all to see.

In short, the New South Wales Government, believe it or not, wants to tear down a block of four classrooms in order to build a new block of four classrooms. If anyone read the story in the Australian or were listening to this debate they would think it was part of a comedy routine—part of a Chaser program or, my favourite, the Little Britain program. Where in the world would it be reasonable to knock down a perfectly good block of four classrooms, at a cost of $2.5 million, and replace it with another block of four classrooms? It is so ridiculous.

It is no wonder the Government did not want to grant urgency for this debate today. The first thing one would want to know—and reasonably so—is whether the original four classrooms were in poor shape. If they were, perhaps they did need to be replaced. According to the school's parents and citizens association president, Robert Vella, the existing block of classrooms had recently been refurbished. The classrooms were comfortable and teachers were happy to use them.

The Hon. Trevor Khan: And air-conditioned.

The Hon. ROBYN PARKER: And the classrooms were air-conditioned. In fact, Robert Vella told the Australian that the best use of the funds was to provide more facilities at the school to meet the growing enrolments. He said the school would like to build an extra two classrooms and refurbish another four to expand the school's capacity. If anyone had taken notice of those at the coalface, people with an understanding of the needs of the school, they would have known that the school's initial application for funding involved the construction of two covered outdoor learning areas, returfing of the oval to remove asbestos, and the refurbishment of an existing block of four classrooms—all fairly reasonable demands. The State and Federal governments fail miserably when it comes to being flexible, showing common sense and listening to the community. It is as if "Building the Education Revolution" is typed into a computer and the response is "No".

Abbotsford Public School has been told to take it or leave it. That is a disgraceful sign of how out of touch the Labor Party is with the community and how inflexible the Building the Education Revolution program is. Documents are piled high that any Government member can look at. Those documents show case after case of mismanagement of costs having blown out and case after case of schools not getting what they want. In fact, some schools will not be receiving any funding at all if one believes the reports circulated over the past few weeks.

The Government was warned about these problems months ago yet it has done nothing about them. For example, in April, in a brief to the Council of Australian Governments, Treasury officials complained about the program. They said that the Federal stimulus package could deliver more jobs if funding arrangements were more flexible and allowed for a redistribution of funding between schools. The brief said there was scope for improving the effectiveness of every dollar spent; if New South Wales had more flexibility to move money across schools in the same region, between programs and between years, more local jobs could be delivered sooner with better outcomes to schools and better value for money. That was the warning given in April by Treasury officials to the Labor Government about the problems in this program.

More of the documents show correspondence from New South Wales officials in August expressing frustration at their not being able to reallocate funding from schools with more money than needed to schools with not enough funding. Those documents show that more than half of the schools in New South Wales that were promised classrooms and a hall under the Building the Education Revolution program have blown their budget. In fact, hundreds of schools may have to cancel or scale down their projects as a result of this cost blowout. No wonder the call for papers by the Liberal-Nationals Coalition was so passionately opposed by members of the Government. An email from Angus Dawson, the head of the Building the Education Revolution New South Wales office, about the cash flow problems with the Federal Government stated:

New South Wales will carry a deficit for the rest of the program with a maximum exposure of as much as $976 million. This is a situation which I am not willing to put to our Minister or Cabinet.

Angus Dawson must be wishing he were back in Newcastle managing Honeysuckle instead of this debacle. He was embarrassed and not prepared to put it to his Minister or Cabinet. Cash flow problems are not the only cause for concern: so is the amount of management fees that are being placed on school projects.

General Purpose Standing Committee No. 2 listened to the director general speak of success and management fees during the estimate hearings. In fact, a quarter of the $3.4 billion of the Building the Education Revolution program will be eaten up by management fees, with some schools paying as much as $250,000. For example, Annangrove Public School has a management fee of 5.5 per cent, or more than $29,000, plus a profit margin of 3.15 per cent, or more than $18,000, plus an extra 8.82 per cent, or more than $26,000, for a coordination fee for a prefabricated library. The fees of West Pymble Primary School come to over $259,000, with 5.5 per cent and 3.15 per cent profit margins. The department has defended those costs and said they are necessary for the implementation of the program. Those management fees are in addition to the 4 per cent in project management costs, which will be more than $119 million, and incentive fees for on-time completion of projects of between 1 per cent and 2.75 per cent of $50 million.

The total proportion of program funding spent on management fees will be more than 26 per cent. So $800 million of taxpayer's money is to be skimmed off the top of the Building the Education Revolution program by the State Government to pay fees. Talk about squandering a great opportunity to deliver upgrades to local schools in this State! It is clear that taxpayers are not getting value for money. That is $800 million that should have been spent on bricks and mortar, rather than being skimmed off the top by the bureaucracy. The taxpayers want the money to be spent on schools rather than going into the coffers of the New South Wales Government.

Time and time again we see the State Labor Government being unable to deliver infrastructure projects on time and on budget. It is a script for some sort of comedy program to continue to rely on demountable classrooms. The Government continues to spend money on demountable classrooms and moves them from school to school at a cost of $3.6 million when it should be building permanent classrooms. In the last five years alone the New South Wales Government spent $12 million on moving demountables across New South Wales. When it comes to shuffling deckchairs, this Government knows all about it. It continues to shuffle deckchairs within its Ministry and it is now shuffling dodgy demountables from one school to another.

School maintenance programs and capital programs have taken a back seat. The issues affecting the Abbotsford Public School, which were raised by Hon. Don Harwin in this motion, is only one of many examples. There are boxes of examples to which honourable members can refer. Another example popped up in the media this week. The mayor of the Riverina said that the New South Wales Department of Education and Training did not understand the needs of a growing public school in her region, Jindera Public School. That school submitted a proposal to build a multipurpose hall with the $2 million grant from the Federal Government but the Greater Hume Shire Mayor, Denise Osborn, said the Education department rejected the plan. She said—and this is absolutely bizarre—that the department had an alternative proposal that involved removing one of the hall's walls and erecting a roof to create a covered open space. She said that was totally ridiculous and would not fulfil the purposes for which most school halls are used, as it could be used only in good weather. Surely if the department had spoken to the local school community, it would have ascertained its needs. Taking the end wall from a hall is hardly satisfactory.

Projects can be delivered on time, on budget and to suit school requirements, as occurs with projects managed by the independent sector. Abbotsford Public School and the Jindera Public School are only two examples of stuff-up after stuff-up, cost over cost. I am so pleased that Hon. Don Harwin has brought this matter to the fore today. I hope his intervention will result in Abbotsford Public School getting the attention it needs, so that perfectly good classrooms will not be taken away and that the funding will be spent appropriately in consultation with that school.

All too often in the Building the Education Revolution program we have heard of schools gaining appropriate local quotes that are cheaper than quotes supplied by the department, yet we find the State Government mismanaging and skimming off the top. This is a slap in the face for school principals and school communities, who are perfectly equipped to decide what facilities are needed. I congratulate the Hon. Don Harwin. I encourage Government members to read through the documents on the program debacles. Government members should share in the embarrassment that Angus Dawson must feel every day in managing this program. They should also understand what the school communities in their duty electorates—if they have bothered to consult them—are saying. Those Documents clearly demonstrate that the intervention by the State Government is causing embarrassment and some schools will miss out altogether because there is approximately a $300 million shortfall for halls, libraries and classrooms. Some of these things might be avoided with common sense and good management, but I doubt that is possible under this Government. I support the motion and encourage other members to do so.