Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank very much the member for Sturt for his question. The first thing I would say in response to the member for Sturt is to have a clear and close look at the Australian Education Agreement, which was signed between the Australian government and the states last year. I would say to the member for Sturt, who is not interested in any answer to the question he has just asked, that the Australian Education Agreement for schools represents a 50 per cent increase in Australian government investment in schools over the five-year period against the benchmark which we inherited from the previous government. That is the first point. The second is that, if the member for Sturt is actually interested in what we mean by quality education and quality education outcomes, he should study carefully the number of national partnership agreements which flow off that national education agreement and what therefore flows through in terms of the measurement of school performance. That is the second point. I could say to the honourable member that, if he is actually interested in real performance in schools, that is where his attention should go.

On the question of quality education, one of the key elements of policy on quality education is this: the public production of reporting of school performance. That is a core part of education reform. But which party in Australia stands opposed to the production of that public reporting of data on school performance? Could it be the Australian Labor Party? No. Could it be even the National Party? No. It is not the Democrats, because they are not around anymore. Could it be the Greens? No, it is not them but I think they were party to it. The principal agent is the Liberal Party in the state of New South Wales. The Liberal Party, under Mr O’Farrell, in the New South Wales parliament has blocked the core element of education reform when it comes to public reporting.

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