Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

That speech by the Leader of the Opposition was 24 hours out of date. The Leader of the Opposition is still trying to cling to the notion that the Labor Party was putting the same amount of money in as the coalition. Unfortunately for the Leader of the Opposition, in the last 24 hours, the coalition is putting $1.2 billion more into school education than Labor would have done had they been re-elected. In the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook, Labor reduced the additional funds to schools from $2.8 billion over four years to $1.6 billion over four years. That speech by the Leader of the Opposition might have worked if it had not been for two important facts. Firstly, he was the one who ripped $1.2 billion out of schools—

Ms Kate Ellis interjecting—

You admitted it yourself in the media. It was a tragedy for you. On Meet the Press you admitted that you had ripped out $1.2 billion. That followed shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen admitting it on ABC 24 on Thursday. You say nobody believes it. But you believe it, because you admitted it on Sunday and Chris Bowen admitted it on Thursday. We know that you took the $1.2 billion and ran with it. The first fact is that you took the money. The second fact is that the coalition put it back in. Yesterday we put $1.2 billion back in. Rather than the Labor Party coming into the House and thanking the government for putting more money into school students over the next four years, we are in this ironic, ludicrous position where Labor is coming into the House and pretending that did not happen: 'Let's just pretend yesterday did not happen—2 December, just wipe it off. We were asleep—Rip Van Winkle. We have woken up and nothing really changed on Monday.' So Labor have kept their question pack from last week. They have kept their MPI speech from last week—and the Leader of the Opposition just gave it.

The ironic thing about the Leader of the Opposition's speech and all the questions that were asked today is that, if Labor had been re-elected, the loadings for children with disadvantage, the funding to achieve the student resource standard in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, would never have been delivered. We have had a conga line of questioners come up to the dispatch box today demanding that we put in the loadings for disadvantaged students—which we have done yesterday—which they took out in the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook! If Labor had been elected, students with disadvantage in Queensland, WA and the Northern Territory would not have got the loadings, would not have got the extra support, would not have reached the student resource standard. It was because the coalition was elected, and because yesterday we put the $1.2 billion in, that they are getting the loadings, that they are getting the support to reach the student resource standard. We inherited a very serious mess and we are moving to fix it up.

The Leader of the Opposition, in his MPI speech, said it was all about trust. The lack of sincerity that Bill Shorten can bring to bear on the subject of trust is not worth writing about! Julia Gillard could not trust him. He said he was 100 per cent behind Julia Gillard. Bill Shorten did not go so far as the member for Lindsay, who said he would have a tattoo put on his forehead rather than not vote for Julia Gillard. But Bill Shorten said he was 100 per cent behind Julia Gillard—until he stabbed her in the back. He said he was 100 per cent behind Kevin Rudd—until he stabbed Kevin Rudd in the back. You know, the really sick thing about that night in 2010—I was in parliament and I heard the whole thing—was that Bill Shorten was bragging to people about how easy it was. He thought taking out a Prime Minister would be tough, he thought it would be hard. He was bragging to his right-wing factional mates in Sussex Street, 'It was much easier than I expected.' And this is the man that comes to the dispatch box to lecture us about trust! It is a remarkable audacity for the Leader of the Opposition.

So we inherited a mess. We inherited a situation where there was $1.2 billion removed from school funding. We inherited a school funding model that was not national—that did not include Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory—and where every state and territory had a different indexation rate, and every state and territory needed to reach the student resource standard at different percentages over different years. It was a complete shambles—

Ms Kate Ellis interjecting—

And the member for Adelaide says, 'Scrap it all.' Unfortunately, she is still trying to catch up. We have not scrapped anything. We have actually made a national agreement. We have created the national agreement that you failed to create. I know it is hard for Labor to accept, because they say: 'We're best at health and we're best at education. Yes, you're better with the economy, and you're better at defence, and you're better at national security, but we're better at education and health.' They always say it. How tragic for them to have to show up to question time and admit that we are putting more money into schools than they would have and that I, of all people, achieved the national agreement on school funding, which they said I could never do! But quietly, methodically, calmly, behind the scenes for the last 11 weeks I have been talking with Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory about bringing about a national agreement, and I achieved it.

I must admit I am very pleased that those extra funds are going to students around Australia, because it allows us to move on to the real issues in education: to quality and standards; to principal autonomy, which we on this side of the House are very attached to; to quality teaching, which we think is the most important thing you can do to bring about good outcomes for students; and to parental engagement—because, unlike the Labor Party, we are not trying to push parents away from their children in schools. We want parents to be deeply engaged in their children's education—to ask them when they get home from school: 'How much homework do you have? What areas is it in? How long do you think it will take? Can I help you to do it?' We want parents to be deeply engaged, and that is one of our three pillars. And, finally, we want a robust curriculum. We want a strong, orthodox curriculum that achieves the outcomes that we believe in in Australia for our students, because we want them to have the best outcomes possible.

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