Orgill hasnt read Auditor-General's report

The head of the Implementation Taskforce, Brad Orgill, last night admitted to the Senate Inquiry into the School Hall program that he has never read the complete Auditor-General's report into the BER.

"Mr Orgill's admissions raise serious doubts about whether he should continue as head of the BER Implementation Taskforce," said Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education, "he should consider resigning from the position."

In addition it also emerged that Mr Orgill:

• Hasn't 'given thought' to making any recommendations to change the BER guidelines;
• Hasn't yet met with any of the major contractors of BER building projects;
• Hasn't yet met with any manufacturers of prefabricated BER buildings;
• Retracted comments made in the media that the more centralised and inflexible the system managing projects, the less likely value for money would be achieved, now claiming it is too early to tell if this was the case;
• Admitted he could not guarantee that the states would present him with BER costings, and said he would 'ask harder' if they refused; and
• Is unaware what the Federal Department of Education has been doing to assure itself that schools are receiving value for money.

"The Implementation Taskforce will report only three times between now and the December 2011 end date, the first is an interim report to be made after virtually all the school hall money has been committed. Mr Orgill will pocket a salary higher than the Prime Minister for his efforts," Mr Pyne said.

"With media reports appearing daily indicating widespread and systemic problems with this program, Mr Orgill's admissions further undermine the credibility of the taskforce, which had a media adviser before it employed an accountant," he said.

"If elected this year the Coalition will disband the Implementation Taskforce and begin a Judicial Inquiry into the school hall program, with powers to subpoena documents and summons witnesses to determine how much money has been wasted and who is responsible" Mr Pyne said.

June 23, 2010

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