Senate committee to investigate stimulus

Labor's billions of dollars in economic stimulus spending will come under the
microscope in two Senate inquiries forced onto the government.
The opposition on Tuesday supported a motion by the Australian Greens to call
economic experts, including Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, to explain the continuing
need for economic stimulus spending.
And Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and education spokesman Christopher Pyne
announced they'll refer the $14 billion primary schools stimulus spending to build
halls and other infrastructure for thousands of schools to the Senate education
committee.
It is understood the government is unlikely to oppose the reference, even though it
has the numbers on the committee.
Mr Turnbull said "reckless" government spending was putting upward pressure on
interest rates.
"There has been no rigorous, or any cost benefit analysis of these programs, and in
particular, the Julia Gillard memorial assembly hall program, so-called Primary
Schools for the 21st Century program," he told reporters.
The opposition pointed to the Evesham State School in the Queensland Labor seat of
Flynn which last week received a grant of $250,000 to build a new library - even
though the school has only one student enrolled.
Education Minister Julia Gillard said the school was currently part of community
consultations involving amalgamation with a nearby school, meaning the project would
be part of a unified school.
Mr Turnbull said a Senate inquiry would give an opportunity for a "line by line"
examination of the spending on more than 9,000 primary schools across the country.
The two inquiries come after the opposition, which originally opposed the stimulus
packages, succeeded in having the commonwealth auditor-general examine the school
spending program.
Mr Pyne said the auditor-general was unlikely to report until early next year while
the first Senate inquiry, pushed by the Greens, will report on October 2, with the
other likely to conclude in a couple of months.
"We can't wait until February, I don't think the Australian taxpayer can wait until
February, and more importantly, the Senate has a vital role in overseeing government
spending and government policy," Mr Pyne said.
The spending is part of the $42 billion Nation Building stimulus package announced
in February aimed at a quick rollout of spending to combat the effects on jobs of
the global recession.
But with the Australian economy avoiding falling into recession and posting positive
growth, opposition parties are calling for a stop to the spending.
Mr Turnbull said the Senate inquiry into the schools spending would identify the
"waste and mismanagement" in the program which had seen schools forced to accept new
structures some of them do not need.
Opposition MPs were in celebratory mood on Tuesday after sensing they're managing to
needle the government over the stimulus spending.
But the government fought back in parliament, using ridicule to deflect opposition
questions about reported bias in its $550 million community infrastructure program
announced last December.
An analysis by the Australian Financial Review newspaper published on Tuesday found
that of the 137 government grants made, a majority went to projects in marginal
electorates and seats won by Labor at the 2007 election.
Nationals leader Warren Truss said the analysis showed that Labor Nation Building
was nothing but a "slush fund" of money being used improperly to improve the
government's chances at the next election.
"A pattern of systematic rorting has emerged under the Rudd government in these
programs," Mr Truss said in a statement.
"The Audit Office is examining at least one but should now investigate all of them."
But Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese rejected the analysis, saying in an
additional $250 million program, Labor seats received proportionately less funding.
"Well, safe Labor seats, as measured, received an average of $3.5 million. Safe
non-Labor seats received an average of $6.1 million across the program," Mr Albanese
said.