Carpenter exposes Liberal trickery and calls for candidates to tell the truth

16/09/04 Education and Training Minister Alan Carpenter has called for the Liberal Party to apologise for misleading Western Australian Parents and Citizen groups and to name which schools would not be repaired under a Liberal State Government.

16/09/04
Education and Training Minister Alan Carpenter has called for the Liberal Party to apologise for misleading Western Australian Parents and Citizen groups and to name which schools would not be repaired under a Liberal State Government.
Mr Carpenter tabled a letter (below) in State Parliament today from Liberal Riverton candidate Margaret Thomas that he said was 'blatant trickery'.
The letter reads:

    "I am writing to inform you that the Liberal Party has allocated $20million to spend on urgently needed maintenance in Western Australia's State schools and it is important that schools in the Riverton electorate get their share. I want to ensure that things which are falling into disrepair are fixed properly the first time and also help stop problems occurring and ensure schools receive ongoing work to prevent them becoming rundown."
Mr Carpenter said the Liberals' promise for an extra $20million was inferior to the point of embarrassment compared to the Gallop Government's pledge of $65million.
"The letter looks very much like a 'form' letter, and it ignores the fact that the current outstanding maintenance bill is $65million," he said.
"It ignores the fact that the Liberal's $20million is enough to fix less than one-third of the current maintenance problems.
"I now challenge the Opposition - its Leader and all of its candidates - to come clean with our school communities.
"Rather than pretend they are fixing a $65million headache with $20million, I challenge them to apologise for their trickery and tell every school in the State which one-third of their maintenance problems will be fixed under a Liberal Government, and which two-thirds will have to wait until after the 2009 State election.
"I challenge them to tell the truth to P&C groups that less than one-third of their school maintenance headaches will be fixed by a Liberal Government but they will ALL be fixed by a Labor Government."
Mr Carpenter said the Gallop Government had already boosted school maintenance by an additional $26million before last month's pledge for another $65million.
"Our original $26million extra was not enough. The Liberals' $20million is simply pathetic."
Minister's office: 9213 6800