Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

The fact that the member for Sturt has responsibility for education in this House on behalf of the opposition and has now been ejected from the parliament tells us everything we need to know about the opposition's commitment to education. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, this is a quote from someone who knows: 'We have the My School website, which certainly has its advantages. We have national curriculum coming on. We have national partnerships in literacy. We have national partnerships in teacher performance. We have national teacher registration coming. We have the national BER program.' The author of that quote was the Minister for Education in the Victorian coalition government, Martin Dixon. Need I say any more? Well, I will.

The fact is they on that side of the House do not like hearing about these achievements. They want to cut $2.8 billion out of the education budget. The fact is that for over a decade they managed 3,000 flagpoles; we are supporting some 3,000 libraries. Our commitment to education recognises that it is the great enabler. This government will continue to produce the commitment, the policies and the support to make sure that every school is a great school. That is right at the heart of this government's agenda.

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