RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

22 May 2013 Ministerial Statements 1661
State Schools
Hon. JH LANGBROEK (Surfers Paradise—LNP) (Minister for Education, Training and
Employment) (2.17 pm): It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Newman government will
build 10 new schools to meet growing student demand in Queensland. These 10 schools will be
developed through an innovative public-private partnership that will see private companies contracted
to finance, design, construct and maintain the package of schools.
The new schools will be built in Pimpama, Burpengary, Pallara, Ripley Valley, Springfield,
Griffin, Bellbird Park, Caboolture—two of them—and Redbank Plains. Now this may come as a
surprise to those opposite, but these schools were not selected on the basis of their electorate or a
feeling we got from a local meeting.
Opposition members interjected.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Will the interjections and unacceptable exclamations from my left
cease. I will start warning members under the standing orders if they continue.
Mr LANGBROEK: These schools were selected on the basis of careful planning resulting from
the analysis of rigorous data. The Newman government recognises that Queensland’s student
population is growing rapidly so for the first time ever a Schools Planning Commission has been
established to identify the areas where schools are needed most. The ground work has been done
and this project will deliver 10 new schools to Queensland’s growth hot spots. For example, there are
four in the growth belt south of Ipswich and four in the growth belt on Brisbane’s outer north. The 10
new schools will consist of two secondary and eight primary schools, catering for up to 10,800
students during peak periods of enrolment. The schools will employ up to 540 teachers and 130
non-teaching positions, with the first schools expected to be open from the 2016 academic year.
This project is a wonderful opportunity to innovate the way we design, build and maintain
buildings. By clustering the schools we will be able to achieve efficiencies and by partnering with the
private sector we can improve the quality without increasing the price. The short-listed bidders for the
project are: Inspire Schools Partnership, Edvantage, Exemplar Education and Bright Futures
Partnership.
In my role as the minister responsible for training, I am acutely aware of the importance of the
construction industry to Queensland’s economy. It is one of our four pillars. This project will also boost
economic activity during the five-year construction phase and generate around 1,700 jobs a year.
Unlike those opposite, we are taking a structured view to planning for the education asset base
which consists of over 1,200 schools and $18 billion. To build new schools in areas where they are
needed we must simultaneously make tough decisions and look at innovative delivery methods,
otherwise we simply will not be able to cater for our growing student population.
Queensland Health, Payroll System
Hon. LJ SPRINGBORG (Southern Downs—LNP) (Minister for Health) (2.20 pm): The
painstaking process of rebuilding a reliable and efficient payroll system to serve Queensland Health
employees continues. The disastrous mismanagement of the Labor Party that left 70 per cent of
health workers overpaid, underpaid and some not paid at all is behind us. But the legacy of cost and
inconvenience remains. Since March last year more than 280 payroll system changes have been
introduced. We take another step forward today as we begin the staged introduction of an automated
recovery system to address the problem of payroll overpayments. This problem has bedevilled health
workers pay packets since March 2010 when the SAP/Workbrain payroll system was implemented.
Unlike its predecessor, this government is working to address overpayments. Last year we
changed the pay date to make time for staff and managers to submit, approve and process payroll
forms. This has prevented many overpayments that would otherwise have occurred. An automated
repayment process is another important step towards better managing overpayments. Sometimes
overpayments occur simply because someone missed a shift and the form outlining the change was
not submitted in time to adjust the pay. In these cases the automated repayment process will make it
easier for everyone involved by resolving the overpayment as quickly as possible.
Under the new process staff members will be notified of new overpayments via their pay slips.
They will then have 14 days to question and resolve any concerns that arise with the payroll office.
Repayment through staff pays will then commence automatically 28 days after the initial notification.
Repayments will be calculated at 15 per cent of the employee’s gross base wages in the fortnight the
overpayment commences. As 80 per cent of overpayments are under $500, this means most will be