PM: It's great to be out here at Trinity Christian School in Wanniassa because this is what Building the Education Revolution is all about. This is great work. What I have been to see this morning with the Principal is the construction of this new classroom block behind me which will contain within it five new learning areas for grades three and four. It will be built, I am told by the Principal, by about the middle of next year.
And also I've just been down to the library and part of our funding is also going to the extension of that library that we just visited by about a third to make it more possible to have more classes in there at the same time.
And I notice also that in this new learning centre which will be built behind me that they are also as a school going to make sure that it's fully wired for information technology and to make sure that our kids are wired into the economy of the 21st century. Just on the details, this school has enrolment of 1,139, Principal? 536 primary, 603 secondary. Under the National School Pride program for shade structures, windows and guttering - $200,000. $3 million under round one of the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program for the construction of classrooms and the refurbishment of the school library. Also 80 computers in round one of the Computers for Schools program.
This is the sort of work we're doing right across the primary schools of Australia, that's seven and a half thousand of them, to make a difference to each one of these little tots' lives and also to make a difference for the national economy.
When we look at what has been done so far with our Nation Building for Recovery plan, this Building the Education Revolution component as you know involves nearly $15 billion.
I'd like to confirm today that we've allocated around 70 per cent of the total of the $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution funding to 20,159 projects spread across a total of 9,490 schools. To date, an estimated 99.3 per cent of schools have received National School Pride funding program funding. And 64.3 per cent of schools have received Primary Schools for the 21st Century project allocations.
In the 96 per cent of allocated National School Pride funding, it's been approved for refurbishment projects such as shade cloths, classroom refurbishments, school storage facilities, upgrades of sporting facilities, painting and carpets upgrades.
Primary Schools for the 21st Century round one and two will see the construction of - these are very important figures - 2,161 libraries, 2,061 multi-purpose halls, 1,774 classrooms, 490 covered outdoor learning areas and 139 early learning centres.
It is estimated based on application data, compliance and environmental best practice that the following will be the case as well: 91 per cent of approved Primary Schools for the 21 projects or P21 projects are planning to utilise building insulation, 80 per cent using energy efficient lighting, 49 per cent installing energy efficient glazing, 24 per cent installing solar panels, 62 per cent using shading, 60 per cent installing water tanks and seven per cent implementing recycled grey water measures. So we're actually trying to make sure that the investment in these school programs is using the best forms of technology available as well.
Can I also say that the levels of support that we've had from the Independent Education Union of Australia, from the National Catholic Education Commission of Australia, from the Independent Schools Council of Australia, the Australian Primary Schools Association, all backing in strongly this program across the country. What's it all about? This is nation building for recovery, supporting jobs, small business, apprenticeships for today by building the infrastructure our nation and our kids need for tomorrow. Over to you folks.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, has Wayne Swan dodged a bullet?
PM: Can I just say that what Australia wants is for a Government to be positively engaged in building the economic recovery rather than a permanent negative debate run by negative scare campaigns on the economy on the one hand and negative personal smear campaigns on the other. We're in the, we're in the building business, we're in the positive business, that's what we're here to do, to make a difference for young people's lives and for, for young people's lives as well as, as well as for the economy overall. Daniel.
JOURNALIST: Malcolm Turnbull says he has nothing to apologise for because you've accused him of being involved with this fake email.
PM: Well can I say I think most of the country would conclude today that Mr Turnbull has some very serious questions to answer. Firstly, he must outline all his dealings that he and the Opposition have had with this fake email. Secondly, he must outline all the dealings the Opposition have had with this particular public servant and thirdly, he should commit himself, all Opposition members, Opposition staff and their computer systems to full access to the Australian Federal police investigators.
One other thing as well and that is, given the extraordinary events of the last few days, can I say that what the nation wants us to do is to focus on building the economy for the future, creating jobs, and supporting business and on top of that - I'll take further questions, that's fine - and on top of that Mr Turnbull frankly has become a road block to recovery because he only has two strategies. Seriously, two strategies. Mr Turnbull has two strategies, both of which are roadblocks to recovery. One is, it seems always to use a negative scare campaign on debt and deficit to talk the economy down and at the same time a negative smear campaign attempting to bring the Government down.
Can I just say, that's the strategy which is why it's time for Mr Turnbull to get out of the road as a roadblock to economic recovery. Mr Turnbull's integrity I believe has been fundamentally undermined and it is important therefore that Mr Turnbull at least today do the right thing and resign. Over to you Mark.
JOURNALIST: If this email has been faked (inaudible) which seems likely, then a crime has been committed here. Do you think that Malcolm Turnbull or somebody in the Opposition has been complicit in the commission of a crime to try and bring you and your Government down?
PM: Mark, I think that's why the Australian Federal Police have been commissioned to get to the bottom of all the facts surrounding this. But one thing would stand in the road of that. And that is if the Opposition refuse to make themselves, their staff, their Opposition members and their computer systems fully available, fully access - I'm just saying - fully accessible to the AFP investigation.
JOURNALIST: But do you believe that Mr Turnbull was involved in the circulation of the fake email?
PM: What I have said repeatedly is if you look at what Senator Abetz said in the Senate, on the Senate inquiry conducted last Friday, that Senator Abetz on behalf of the Liberal Party was clearly conveying the contents of this information.
So therefore, as I said extensively in my censure motion in the parliament yesterday, it follows that Mr Turnbull has some very fundamental questions to answer. I believe there are three sets of those questions, I have outlined them already.
JOURNALIST: If someone is charged over the fake email, what penalties apply and what do you think should happen to that person?
PM: We have an independent judiciary. We have an independent criminal justice system, that is why the Australian Federal Police should be allowed to go and do their job. As I said, going back to when I spoke to all last Friday, last Friday, I said to you all having gone through the searches that we had gone through, that I could only conclude based on that that this document was false.
I believe that is now established.
JOURNALIST: Since the revelations that the email is fake, Mr Turnbull has now turned it around and said it really is your problem because someone within your ranks, within Treasury, has made up an email. Do you believe someone within your ranks is plotting against you? What do you make of those comments?
PM: Can I say, it is far better that Mr Turnbull have a long, cold, hard look at himself, do the honourable thing today and to resign, and furthermore, and furthermore, to answer these most basic questions, these most basic questions which most of the country would like to know the answers to.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, Mr Turnbull this morning suggested that he had spoken to Godwin Grech and that there's nothing wrong with that, and of course many people have spoken to him. And he also wouldn't say whether he had sighted this email or knew of its existence before the Senate hearings on Friday, suggesting that that may in some ways compromise the police investigation. Do you believe that he is under any obligation to publicly disclose the nature of his conversations with Mr Grech and the nature of his knowledge or lack of knowledge or lack of knowledge of this email and what it said before Friday or is he right to say that that might compromise the police investigation?
PM: Can I just say out there in the public debate, and I think there has been a fair bit of public debate about this in the last several days, a fair bit, quite a lot actually, that there a few questions people in the public debate would like some answers to, and I ran through those questions before. Let me just be very clear about them.
One, Mr Turnbull to the nation has an obligation to outline all dealings that the Opposition has had with this fake email. Two, outline all dealings that the Opposition has had with this public servant, and three, to confirm publicly in the parliament that they would make available, themselves, their staff, their computer systems, to the investigation.
JOURNALIST: Godwin Grech, is he still employed by Treasury and should be be suspended?
PM: The great thing about Australia is we have a thing called an independent public service. It's governed by its own code of conduct and all appropriate decisions about the public service should properly be made by secretaries of departments informed by the Public Service Act and the Code, and that is as it should be. And I have got to -
JOURNALISTS: (inaudible)
PM: Okay, let's have a schools question.
JOURNALIST: It's no secret that there have been some problems, some principals and P&Cs have complained that they didn't get what they wanted, or there was no consultation. You have said it is inevitable that there would be bumps in the road. Have you been keeping an eye on how many bumps there are and are you satisfied that the net benefit of getting these projects rolled out very quickly, and the job creation associated with that outweighs the negatives of bungling which there has been some of?
PM: Can I say Matthew, that when you look at the fact that the Government's economic strategy is based on nation building for recovery and that nation building for recovery means phase one, cash payments to families to support consumption, phase two, Building the Education Revolution, social housing as well as energy insulation, and three, long term economic infrastructure including national high speed broadband - with each of these there will be controversy.
I understand that, I accept that. That is a normal thing in public life. My job as Prime Minister is to make a difference when it comes to dealing with the worse economic downturn in three quarters of a century. Our strategy as reflected in the first quarter's economic data underpins the fact that we have the fastest growth in Australia of all the major advanced economies because we acted early, we acted decisively.
Phase two is here, inevitably there are going to be bumps in the road, but my job is one of macroeconomic management to make sure that the economy keeps working. And we are throwing everything we have at this, and I would draw your attention to still the appalling global economic data and that which we saw from the World Bank, as early as yesterday, with a further revision downwards of global growth. We are not out of woods yet.