Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bonner for his question. What a great member he has been for the seat of Bonner. In March 1996, unemployment was 6.7 per cent in Bonner; today it is 3.6 per cent. He has been a great member. He came from a small business background, and I understand that he is up against a Labor candidate who would know nothing about small business because, of course, she has been a Labor staffer—not a union member; a Labor staffer.

The Howard government has provided record levels of funding for schools in every year since 1996. I repeat: there have been record levels of funding since 1996 for our schools. This year there will be around $10 billion for our schools. Funding for state government schools particularly has increased by 70 per cent in real terms, even though there has only been a one per cent increase in enrolments over that time. The facts are that 65 per cent of students in state government schools receive 75 per cent of total public funding, 35 per cent of our students attend Catholic and independent schools and those schools receive a total of 25 per cent of public funds.

We believe in supporting parental choice. We do not believe in punishing parents for choosing to send their children—

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