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

I rise to oppose the amendments moved by the shadow minister for education. I would have to say that when the show The X Files was on TV, I was a fan of it. The difference between me and the shadow minister for education is that he is suffering a delusion that he is in it. He is seeing conspiracy theories everywhere, spun out of the air, and hidden agendas. That is what these amendments are directed to—not the facts and not anything that is about a child’s education but, rather, a conspiracy theory.

Why is the shadow minister engaged in a conspiracy theory? Well, better for the shadow minister from the Liberal Party to be engaged in a conspiracy theory about the future than to try and defend the shameful legacy that the Howard government left to this nation in education: declining standards against our competitors, as revealed by international testing; no national curriculum; no transparency; no action on teacher quality; and children not learning with the learning tools of the 21st century like computers. It is a shameful record and I can understand why the shadow minister for education is trying to weave a conspiracy theory out of thin air to try and cover up that legacy of neglect, decline and decay that characterised the Liberal Party in government.

Let us just look at the facts as opposed to the shadow minister’s conspiracy theory. The facts are simply these: the government are committed to a new era of transparency. Yes, it will include transparency about funding sources; and, as the government have made absolutely clear, every condition we put on non-government schools we will also apply to government schools. The same transparency framework will apply. This will enable people to understand across the nation for the first time what is happening in Australian schools. We understand that the Liberal Party was a complete failure when it comes to transparency. Apparently that record of failure has now morphed into a policy position of opposition. We believe in being honest with the Australian people. We will ensure that there is a transparency framework which applies equally to government and non-government schools.

On the question of the national curriculum, yes, the Liberal Party members should be hanging their heads in shame because of their lack of action on the national curriculum. Of course for the Liberal Party the curriculum was never about the quality of a child’s learning; it was all about whether or not they could get their name in the headlines of the newspapers. It was all about whether or not they could parade their credentials in the history wars to other Liberal Party members. Their intervention in curriculum debates was all about themselves and all about the political positioning of the Liberal Party. The one thing it was never about was the quality of education in Australian schools.

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