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Snowy Sale Withdrawal: School Promise In LimboThe future of desperately needed school redevelopments, repairs and maintenance hang in the balance following the withdrawal of the Snowy Hydro Scheme from sale to private enterprise. By Phillip Davis - 5th June 2006 - Back to News Liberal Member for Gippsland Province Philip Davis said the decision not to sell Snowy Hydro created a major problem for the Bracks Labor Government and schools throughout the state are going to suffer most of all.
"In an act of blind stupidity by the Bracks Government, the lion’s share of school maintenance, repairs and redevelopments was to come from the revenue generated by the expected sale of its stake in the Snowy," Mr Davis said.
"The Government allocated $600 million based on the sale of the Snowy for urgent school works across the state.
"Now that the sale is not going ahead, where does this leave our crumbling primary and secondary schools?"
Mr Davis said every school in Gippsland has important projects that need doing immediately.
"In Tuesday’s budget the Labor Government spent $34.5 billion of tax-payers’ money," he said.
"Labor collects record levels of taxation.
"Because of waste and mismanagement of the budget over the past seven years, the proper investment in maintenance and renewal of our schools has been left wanting.
"Tragically Labor has made a huge mistake in depending on the sale of the Snowy for much-needed works in our schools.
"Labor’s budget now has a $600 million black hole.
"Labor must now re-cast the State Budget to ensure these essential works in our schools are not neglected."
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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