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

I am very pleased to answer a question from the member for Bennelong about the support that the government is giving to school students in the budget, because the truth is that we are keeping all of our election commitments in this budget to school students. Funding to school students goes up every year of the next four years in the forward estimates, peaking at $18.1 billion in 2017, which is a 3.1 per cent real increase in spending on schools. In fact, it is $100 million more than would have been the case if Labor had been re-elected, because of the $1.2 billion cut that Australia's No. 1 whinger visited on Australian school students when he was the Minister for Education. Because we are also funding school chaplains to the tune of $246 million, we are doing more for schools than Labor would if they had been re-elected.

The member for Bennelong asked me if there were any alternative approaches. I can say to the member for Bennelong that the Leader of the Opposition—Australia's No. 1 whinger—said in Perth, on 31 March, in answer to a question from a journalist on radio—

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