Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased that the Minister for Education is here in the chamber, because I want to refer to two elements of this bill which relate to education and which are of great concern to me: the proposed interest charges to apply to certain debts, and the issue to do with student start-up loans. It is correct that these amendments were first proposed by us as an initiative of the 2013 budget, but it was a measure with one specific reason—that is, it was to fund Labor's Better Schools Plan. Before the election, the coalition said—as the minister at the table will identify—that they were on a unity ticket with the Labor Party. But they have walked away from that unity ticket. They have refused to commit the $14.565 billion in additional funding for schools that was promised as part of the Better Schools Program, and they have no assurances that states will not cut funding. That is the issue I want to address right now.

The current Northern Territory government has taken it upon itself to slash $250 million from the Territory's education budget over the forward estimates—$50 million worth of cuts in 2014 alone. Let us be clear: the worst-performing jurisdiction in Australia in terms of educational outcomes is pulling $250 million out of its education budget over the forward estimates—$50 million this year. And $10 million of that will come directly from classroom teacher cuts. The contrast to Labor in government is very clear. As a result of the initiative of my friend the member for Jagajaga and a partnership which we had in developing a Stronger Futures package for the Northern Territory, we proposed to spend $583 million over 10 years in additional funding to the Northern Territory for education. Part of that was to provide funding for 200 additional teachers in the Northern Territory on an ongoing basis and to provide new housing—in excess of 100 teacher houses—for bush communities. Under the proposals put by Labor, every school in the Northern Territory would have benefited substantially—in contrast to what is now being proposed by the then opposition, who said at the time that they would support what we were doing. But of course, they have not. We are now contemplating the impact of the cuts proposed by the Northern Territory government against the backdrop of the Commonwealth government refusing to commit—despite the former Commonwealth government under Labor putting in $583 million in additional investment—and against the backdrop of recent information coming out on educational performance data which shows that the worst-performing jurisdiction in Australia is the Northern Territory. Today, we are observing a $250 million cut over the forward estimates from the Northern Territory government from its education budget. The hypocrisy is mind-blowing.

What we need this Minister for Education to do—and he is here in the aisle, jawboning—is call the Northern Territory government to account. When the coalition made their announcement this week about freeing up their education resources—from we know not where—to give the states all this extra money, they did not make the states accountable. There have been no strings attached. It is very clear, in the context of the Northern Territory, that Northern Territory students are suffering as a direct result of a disinvestment by the current Northern Territory government in education—$50 million this year, with $10 million of that taking teachers out of the classrooms. I do not know how the minister can sit in this place and say with a straight face that the coalition have adopted the same package that Labor had proposed under Gonski. And remember—

Mr Pyne interjecting—

As we said before, Minister—I'm glad you're here. You might actually listen to what is happening in the Northern Territory. (Extension of time granted)I say to the minister who is at the table: let's be serious about this. We are seeing a reduction in the Northern Territory's own budget for education, we are seeing you—that is, the minister and this current government—saying that you are going to honour the Gonski proposals but, in fact, you are not. We do not know where the money the coalition announced this week—from memory, I think it was $1.2 billion in additional resources—is coming from. And the two states and the territory that will benefit have not been told that they have to be accountable for the money in the way in which they would been under Gonski. It seems to me there is rank hypocrisy in that position. We know what the Territory government is like; we know what they are doing. They are affecting the educational outcomes of every kid in the Northern Territory, and the most disadvantaged of those, of course, live in Aboriginal communities. They have benefited substantially from the input of the Gonski proposals. A school like Angurugu on Groote Eylandt would have had growth funding of over $4 million over the period, an increase per student of 60.2 per cent. At the very same time they would be getting that, the Northern Territory government was going out the back door with their paper bag, slipping out the dough. So, we are putting the money in and they are taking it out. You sit here in this place and try to tell us that, somehow or another, you are making real reforms in education. You are not making real reforms in education and we know that the most disadvantaged students in this country—the people who most need this new investment—are the ones who are suffering as a direct result of your indolence.

It seems to me that the government needs to be held to account for its failure—its abysmal failure—to make sure that the state and territory governments do what they should do—and that is the right thing by the students in their communities. I say to the minister that the next time he is talking to the Northern Territory Chief Minister or—God forbid—the Northern Territory education minister, he might actually ask him, 'Mate, when are you going to put this dough back in?' The Northern Territory Treasurer—what a bonzer bloke! what a terrific bloke!—is the same person who would have stood up here as the former member for Solomon advocating for the Northern Territory and now he is cutting money from the Northern Territory's own education system. It is an absolute disgrace! You, Minister, are responsible.

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