Paint barely dry as $13m in BER buildings closed

The Tasmanian Minister for Education, Nick McKim, must reveal how long he has planned to close the 20 schools in receipt of more than $13 million in BER funding, Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education said today.

"Two years ago the Tasmanian Government accepted millions in taxpayer's money to construct new BER buildings at schools Mr McKim now wants to close down," Mr Pyne said.

"The paint would barely be dry on some of these BER buildings," he said.

Governments don't close schools on a whim - it takes months or years of planning.

If the Tasmanian Government had plans to close schools then they should have immediately stopped BER spending at the schools.

Peter Garrett, the Minister for School Education, must also detail whether he was aware of the closures before they were announced and what efforts he made to ensure no taxpayer funds were wasted.

Both Federal Labor and State Labor have demonstrated an unprecedented level of incompetence trying to manage taxpayer funds.

"Some estimate as much as half of all BER funds were lost in rorts, price gouging and management fees. We can chalk up another $13 million wasted due to the gross incompetence of the Tasmanian Government," Mr Pyne said.

June 17, 2011

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