is this article for real.....and did they take paintings of...

is this article for real.....
and did they take paintings of schools instead of painting the schools.......
CANBERRA: Environment Minister Peter Garrett was yesterday defending the Rudd government's Dingoes in Daycare program, as the toll of dead or missing babies and preschoolers linked to the initiative continues to rise.
"This is a well-conceived, well-funded program," Mr Garrett told parliament during a heated question time. "If some of the dingoes we have placed in or near preschools have not been muzzled properly, that is a result of shoddy workmanship by individuals acting outside the guidelines."

Dingoes in Daycare was an innovative program conceived by the government as a way of protecting a vulnerable species, while at the same time keeping the nation's preschools and kindergartens neat and clean.

The idea of the program is to take dingoes from northern Australia and relocate them in the playgrounds of childcare facilities, where they are allowed to feed on the lollies and sandwich crusts dropped by toddlers.

But the opposition has demanded Mr Garrett's resignation over the scheme, which has been linked to the death or disappearance of nearly 100 babies and toddlers in three states.

The dingo debacle is the latest in a series of miscues for the Rudd government, which has been accused of rushing out a raft of initiatives in its attempt to stimulate the economy.

Under one plan, regional schools in Queensland and Western Australia were due to be given a facelift at a cost of $16 million. However, due to a bureaucratic misunderstanding the money was spent on commissioning paintings of schools, rather than the painting of schools.

Particular criticism has been levelled at the government's decision to build a massive chemical facility to produce ammonium nitrate fertiliser just outside Griffith in NSW.

One on side, the factory is situated next to a depot where trucks are regularly loaded with fireworks. On the other side is a local waste facility featuring a gigantic incinerator, from which burning tapers are often released into the atmosphere.

The state's largest hot-air ballooning club regularly holds trials in the airspace above the industrial fertiliser plant and fireworks depot.

"This is an accident waiting to happen," opposition agriculture spokesman John Cobb said.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/a-government-dogged-by-controversy/story-e6frg76x-1225831104534