Gillard's serious policy?

The serious policy in schools was announced today... they're going to reward schools which improve their students' performance with more money.

I would have thought that finding out why students are not doing well, and why a school's performance is below par would be the most important thing, and then if the problem can be fixed with more money for training or facilities then those schools should be helped.

What do you think?

Read more here... along with some crap about Labor strategists being horrified about Mark Latham bullying Gillard. Boo-f'kn-hoo!

"Mind the step, watch your head" signs for Julia Gargle Comm. Hall scheme

Julia Gillard Comm. Halls signs should have safety cautions as well as the dedications that the ALP have demanded.

A mole in the industry has sent me information about the standard of building and the relentless pissing of money up against walls, any walls.

Here are some shots of the type of avoidable errors which have been made in the haste of the government to spend the money.

Please remember, on big projects a building is designed and plans are drawn. When the men on the ground have to transfer those pictures to the three dimensional structure which will be the end product. They follow those plans. If there is a problem or what they see as an error they must put in a report which advises of a supposed error in the plan and request that the plan be changed, otherwise they must follow the plan no matter what (of course, if it's a OH&S issue they'd stop construction). Usually this change request or query takes a short time to sort out and they have a reply in 24 hours or less. But in the school hall cases short cuts have been taken, money for penalties for slow construction or hold-ups has been waived (or vice versa) and no variation/query requests have been acted upon for days. Some haven't even bothered to reply to the variation and so construction has has to continue.

First is the door... see a problem? The thought is that it will be turned into a window. Too bad about the lack of entry/egress points in the hall. (Sorry, having trouble with the external pic, it keeps telling me it is open somewhere... but it isn't!)

Then there are the windows. The ones down low...

Then the windows in the top of the hall. That's going to be annoying if you're trying to fit blackout curtains...

These are in the southern region of suburban Melbourne, and there is no allowance in the construction tendering/pricing for an airconditioning package. They look like they'd get hot. Hot metal and brick boxes for the kids. Hope assembly isn't long. The eastern regions schools have the airconditioning package.

First was the home insulation scheme which has so spectacularly crashed and burned with the ALP only now noticing the problem.

Now the solar power scheme seems to be falling apart with stories of rorts and scams.

When will the investigation into this amazing waste of money commence, and when will we know the outcome?

Are you pleased that your hard earned money is going to such well-thought-out projects? Sure, if it were your money in your hands I'm sure you'd be a lot more careful about what you were paying for!

127 Year old school gutted by fire

Silkstone State School has been destroyed by fire. One of my godchildren attended the school in the 80s.

It is believed to be arson. This makes my blood boil.

More here.