Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Page for that very important question. At the core of our recent budget was our decision to find the responsible savings to fund the long-term investments for the future that make our country smarter and that make our country fairer. We put in place savings to fund the school improvement program, the recommendations from Gonski. What is that all about? It is about a more prosperous country, it is about a more competitive country, but it is also about a fairer Australia. We on this side of the House believe that every child, wherever they live, whatever postcode they come from, should get the best start in life and the best chance to earn a decent income, the best chance to get a decent salary, the best chance to lift their living standards. We know and understand how much education empowers the future and is the key to future prosperity.

This is why we have put in place a new funding model which is very important, particularly in my home state of Queensland, which will mean an additional $3.8 billion over six years. Fortunately, in New South Wales they are adopting this model because they know how good it is for Australia. There, even a National Party education minister has endorsed the model. But the cost in Queensland and the cost across the country of not implementing it will be horrendous. In Queensland government schools would lose $3 billion and non-government schools $1.2 billion.

We have got a broken system. The Gonski report tells us it is broken; it must be fixed. But guess what? Those opposite want to hang on to a broken system which Mr Gonski has recommended should be removed to give our kids the best start in life. That is the choice that they have made. It is a shameful choice but I do respect that it is the choice they have made, but the fact is that they have done something else, and what is really reprehensible about what they have done is that they have attempted to thug the Premiers of Queensland and other states into not accepting this model. What that means is that they are stealing from the future and they are putting their political interests before the national interest. That is what they are doing. They have been out there lobbying all of their Premier mates not to adopt this policy.

Mr Christensen interjecting—

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