Coalition `nitpicking` over schools plan

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has accused the opposition of nitpicking over
Labor's $16.2 billion school infrastructure building program.
The opposition fired nine questions at the education minister in parliament on
Thursday, raising details of individual school projects.
They included claims of cost blowouts, dodgy quotes, delays, legal action and
whether Ms Gillard would make good her promise to visit a school in Brendan Nelson's
electorate on Sydney's north shore.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and education spokesman Christopher Pyne led the
attack for the fourth day in a bid to paint the program as wasteful and poorly
targeted.
The barrage of questions forced Ms Gillard to give assurances that her door was open
to anyone wanting to discuss their concerns about individual projects.
Ms Gillard said there had been complaints about 49 projects out of 24,000 in the
program, which were creating jobs at work sites in more than 9,500 primary schools
around Australia.
With each question, opposition MPs pointedly listed Ms Gillard's portfolios of
education, employment, workplace relations and social inclusion, hinting the schools
program is in disarray because she has too much on her plate.
Earlier, Ms Gillard told reporters that she was "fighting fit" and in good form when
asked whether she felt overworked and in need of a lighter workload.
"Of course, I do work hard, I do work hard, I work a lot of overtime. By comparison,
I would say my counterpart, Christopher Pyne, is at best an intermittent casual," Ms
Gillard said.
"I think, actually, Australians want their elected leaders to work hard and the
reason we put the portfolios together that I have is that they are fundamentally
connected."
Ms Gillard and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched a counterattack, casting the
Opposition as out of touch and preoccupied with minutiae rather than grappling with
the global recession.
Mr Rudd seized on comments by treasury spokesman Joe Hockey on cyberspace messaging
site Twitter on Wednesday in which he pondered how many of the finance ministers
among the Group of 20 major economies were "left-wing".
Later in a TV interview, Mr Hockey depicted the G20 as a kind of left-wing
conspiracy calling in unison for stimulus spending to continue despite signs of
economic recovery.
The Opposition is arguing the government needs to stop the spending and rein in
growing national debt.
"Move over the fake moon landing, move over the grassy knoll, because you've got a
new global conspiracy, it's the G20," Mr Rudd told parliament.
"What we have in the Liberal Party today is a party which is out of touch, out of
control and, can I say, out on their own."
After receiving the news that the jobless rate remained steady at 5.8 per cent in
August, Mr Hockey told reporters earlier on Thursday, the figures strengthened the
call for stimulus spending to be reduced.
In response, the government wanted to know why Mr Turnbull had not led the
opposition response on the job figures.
"The leader of the opposition is like a political undertaker. You only see him if
there's bad news. You've only ever seen him if there is bad news," Ms Gillard told
parliament.
Parliament will sit again next week, with the opposition expected to keep their
sights on Ms Gillard.