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Where Is School Drought Money?

The Nationals want to know what has happened to nearly three million dollars promised to drought affected communities three months ago by the State Government, as part of a school drought relief package.

By Peter Hall - 12th June 2007 - Back to News

The Nationals’ Education spokesman, Peter Hall, said while the Government had made a big noise about the $2.9 million package announced in March, it seemed the money was still to reach schools in drought-affected regional Victoria.

"It’s not apparent that any of the money has been spent as yet and the Minister for Education, when I asked him the question in Parliament this week, had no knowledge of where the money was," Mr Hall said.

"Clearly it is important to spend any money allocated while people are feeling the impact of the drought. Taking kudos for announcing a package is one thing; we at The Nationals want to make sure the money is actually being utilised properly and quickly.

"The Education Minister cannot tell us whether that is the case. Surely he should know."

The package was aimed in particular at the five regions identified as suffering most from drought, the Grampians, Gippsland, Loddon-Mallee, Hume and Barwon-South Western.

The Premier promised funding support for drought support welfare officers to work with schools and provide support to students and families, as well as subsidies to schools to help with transport costs for students, books and stationary, counselling services and water conservation costs.

"I have asked the Minister to provide information about how much of that $2.9 million has been spent and in which program areas and specifically whether schools in those regions have actually received some financial assistance.

"The Government has announced the funding and it is important that schools and communities get what is promised to them quickly and efficiently," Mr Hall added.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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