Revolution cloaked in secrecy

There is a whiff of Jeff Kennett in the way John Brumby is spending federal funds on education

There is a whiff of Jeff Kennett in the way John Brumby is spending federal funds on education

ONE of the key platforms Labor used in Victoria to wrest power in 1999 after two terms of Jeff Kennett was to get rid of the "secret state" and be more open, transparent and accountable.

Victorians were sick of the Kennett administration's increasingly autocratic style. Steve Bracks campaigned on the promise his government wouldn't hide behind closed doors.

But what a difference a decade makes. What would Kennett think of how the Brumby government is handling the rollout of Kevin Rudd's Building the Education Revolution program?

It is far from open and transparent. The Victorian Education Department has received $2.5 billion for hundreds of schools in the state. But what happens with the money after that is anyone's guess.

The department is refusing to release details about the costs of the projects, even to the schools themselves.

Principals dismayed at the designs or progress of projects are being told this financial information is none of their business.

"They said the contract was between the state government and the builders and the school was a third party and we were not entitled to that information," one principal tells Inquirer.

"All of that is secret."

Builders are even being told to stay out of the financial affairs. One firm said it had received emails demanding it not communicate with schools about construction costs.

Another contractor, who also did not want to be named, says he never knew what was going on in terms of where the money went. "In terms of transparency and accountability, the department has to get their act together," he says.

And there are problems with the process. There always was going to be when such an extensive construction program was rolled out in such a short time.

These issues have emerged in other states -- especially in NSW -- where all the information about the projects is made publicly available.

Claims have been made by several schools, parents, and building and architectural firms, all of whom are too frightened to go on the record for fear of losing their government funding, of problems with billing, allegations of overinflated fees and threats by the department to withdraw funding if any school went public.

But the biggest concern is how the department is distributing the money. It has been claimed it is hoarding the money schools are entitled to, then deciding where it should go. Some principals have said they have been forced to sign over their money to ,needier schools while others have been pressured into merging with other schools to get their BER money.

One principal tells Inquirer he was asked to sign his money to another school "that was falling down" and he was convinced this was the right thing to do. But he later found out that other schools had refused to sign its federal money over so he had lost out. "It's not a level playing field," he says of the process. "And in hindsight, I could have got a new classroom."

The department denies that the process is secretive or heavy-handed. It says BER projects are subject to audits done by the Victorian Auditor-General, the Australian National Audit Office and the federal Department of Education.

It says it has not released the financial details due to tender process, which is 75 per cent finished, and will do so when it is completed.

Given it is an election year, the Brumby government needs to be careful it is not tarnished with the same Kennett "secret state" label.

But it seems it has already left that impression on some school communities, especially on principals, who are frustrated because they cannot speak out.

"It's ironic because we thought it would be different under Labor because we won't be gagged [from speaking out] like we were under Kennett," one principal tells Inquirer.

"And yet all this is happening."