Senator BACK (3:24 PM) —I rise to take note of answers given by Senators Carr and Arbib in this chamber this afternoon, which related respectively to the school building program of some $14.7 billion and the employment services tender of some $4.9 billion, and to comment regretfully at the gross mismanagement of the expenditure of Australian taxpayer funds in both of these programs. Only today have we read of a very senior principal of one of Australia’s schools—one obviously towards the end of his career—who out of severe frustration has come out and drawn our attention to the bungling, bullying and dubious accounting practices of this school building program. One can only imagine his courage in so doing and in requesting so many of his colleagues to join him. He has drawn attention to the fact that the state authorities are hiving off vast sums of money. He draws attention to the fact that the funding of school capital programs in Australia is a state program and not a federal program.

Senator Carr drew attention to the question of educators. Why will this government not listen to educators who are pleading that these funds be spent on educational outcomes, not on gymnasiums and buildings upon which the Deputy Prime Minister can see a photograph or statue of herself? I draw the chamber’s attention to three such programs that I think these educators are calling on the government to fund. I can tell you the outcomes: they are programs that are being or have been cut. The first is a hearing and learning program. The cost? $2,000 per classroom throughout the north of Australia. Educators tell us one of the primary reasons why young kids do not learn is that they do not hear. Indigenous children are believed to have hearing problems of up to 70 per cent because of health problems. So we immediately see that this program of a very humble $2,000 per room—less than $1 million across the north of Australia—has been cut, and those seeking this funding heard that from the mouth of the Deputy Prime Minister herself.

We secondly hear of a program called Future Footprints, about which I sought information in Senate estimates hearings recently. It is a program that supports 160 Indigenous children in boarding schools in Perth. These are Western Australian and Northern Territory schoolkids heavily subsidised by the boarding schools.

Senator Wong —What’s this got to do with anything in question time?

Senator BACK —It is to do with the point that your colleague drew attention to expenditure and to educators, and I am drawing attention to what educators are saying they want this money to be spent on. This program, with $400,000 of expenditure per annum, is to be cut. It supports 160 students. Last year, 19 out of 19 participated at year 12. They all graduated. They have all gone on to higher education, training, employment or, in one case, an overseas Rotary exchange. The interesting thing about these two programs, of course, is that they allow—almost force—me to draw attention to the speech given by the Prime Minister in February last year, in which he made a plea for the closing of the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, said that we would try to halve the education gap, the numeracy gap and the employment gap and said that we would work together across the parliament to achieve these outcomes. He said that it was the time for a new approach to enduring problems. It certainly has been. The approach to these problems has been no funding.

In the few minutes left, I draw attention to the responses from Senator Arbib today, in which he told us that major changes were necessary because surveys indicated that the system was not working. Last week in the committee, I asked if any surveys of job seekers were conducted. The answer was no. Were any surveys of employers conducted? It would appear to me a very interesting scenario if in fact we do not know where this information came from. The tender committee, of course, had no employers, no service providers and no past job seekers.

Question agreed to.