Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

But of course I am asked about risks to the capital investment in education. Apart from the Trades Training Centres in Schools Program, in the recent budget we created the Education Investment Fund, an $11 billion fund—with $5 billion coming out of the surplus. And of course you cannot put money in a nation-building education investment fund if you destroy the surplus. So, after more than a decade of neglect from the opposition benches, the Liberal Party are now trying to prevent money being invested in education and training infrastructure by irresponsibly punching a hole in the surplus. Well, people who want to see the infrastructure of universities and vocational education and training upgraded will judge the Liberal Party by their actions. The surplus is there to put downwards pressure on inflation and interest rates; the surplus is there to be invested in nation-building projects like education. We are saying to the Liberal Party that, after a decade of neglect, the very least they could do is get out of the way while the Rudd Labor government is fixing the problem.

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