The Opposition has attacked the government's announcement of a taskforce set up to crack down on cost blow outs and corruption in the school building program as an admission of failure.
Education Minister Julia Gillard says the $14 million operation to deal with complaints surrounding the $16bn scheme will be an extra layer of insurance.
But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the taskforce is a "Claytons inquiry" which won't be able to compel witnesses to give evidence.
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"After months of denying that there was a problem, the announcement of this inquiry is a monumental backflip by the Government and still it's a Clayton's inquiry," he said.
"It doesn't appear that this inquiry will have the power to compel witnesses to return and to answer questions and I think this is an inquiry that is designed to cover things up, not to get to the truth."
No reigning in of program
The federal government meanwhile sees no reason to rein in the program despite Monday's concession the scheme has problems.
It has set up a $14 million taskforce to deal with complaints from the Building the Education Revolution program, in a move Education Minister Julia Gillard called an "extra layer of insurance".
It comes months after the government insisted there were adequate safeguards in place.
Ms Gillard on Monday denied it was time to pull back on the program, set up as part of the government's economic stimulus package, but which has been hit with a slew of complaints since its initiation.
"If we pull ... out, construction in the non-residential sector would just go plummeting," she told Sky News.
"This is what has kept businesses in operation and blokes in work.
"If you take it away then all those jobs will be lost."
She defended the government's handling of the scheme, denying that it had thrown up more problems than first thought.
"We gave good consideration to the checks and balances, but now, of course, we've got some experience of this program in operation," Ms Gillard said.
"We couldn't have that experience until the program started."
The taskforce will be headed by former UBS Investment Bank chief executive Brad Orgill and is due to hand in an interim report in three months.
