School Hall rip-off spendathon needs temporary

"The Rudd Government knows that billions are being wasted while the school hall program continues in its current form, but they will not do anything about it because they can never admit they are wrong,"Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education said today.

"Today reports have emerged that the taskforce assigned to seek out whether schools are receiving value for money will report after the money has been spent - talk about shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted," Mr Pyne said.

"Ms Gillard believes there are problems with the program, she launched a taskforce to investigate these issues in the first place, but if it was a genuine attempt to discover rorts and waste the program would be temporarily suspended until the investigation is complete," he said.

Once all the money is committed, all the contracts signed, all the deals done, it will be too late for the Australian taxpayer and for school communities. The Government will be complicit in allowing the rorting, waste and mismanagement that has become synonymous with the school hall rip-off to continue.

For a Minster to knowingly allow rorting and waste to occur within a program under their watch is disgraceful. To then let it continue when they have a chance to do something about it is plain negligence.

"With $5.5 billion yet to be signed off by the Rudd Government, freezing this funding until the election would mean, if elected, a Coalition Government would be able to ensure more schools benefit by cutting out the wasteful state bureaucracies and excessive management fees. We will redirect funding directly to schools and principals to manage projects," Mr Pyne said.

May 26, 2010

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