Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have a lot to say today about the budget and the attacks it will make on people in my local community. Right now I wish to speak about the cuts to education. Last week my state colleague Maree Edwards and I were part of the Castlemaine Secondary College Education Week discussion about the future of education. It was a timely discussion because both of us at the state and federal level had bad news for the local community when it came to school funding.

Under the Gonski reforms, the Castlemaine Secondary College, like the Kyneton Secondary College and several in my electorate, would have received a significant increase in funding to help make sure that those students got the education that they deserved. Yet in this budget that we saw handed down by the Abbott government they have broken that promise and funding will be less.

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