Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition. The truth is somewhat different. The federal coalition government has put an additional $1.2 billion of funding into schools in WA and the Northern Territory over the forward estimates—money that the previous Labor government refused to commit, despite agreeing to funding increases in the other states. This would have meant that WA and Northern Territory students would have missed out. We have restored the balance, taking our overall funding commitment to $64.5 billion in government and non-government schools over the next four years. This means that from 2013-14 to 2017-18 total Commonwealth funding to all schools in Australia, as outlined in the 2014-15 budget papers, will have increased by 37 per cent—a $4.6 billion increase.

But we would be making a grave and serious mistake if we believed, as some do, that the more money you spend, the better the educational outcome. The fact is that under the previous Labor government, despite massively increasing spending, according to the World Economic Forum, Australia's education standards have dropped significantly. According to the report: quality of primary education slipped from 12th in the world to 22nd, quality of maths and science education slipped from 24th in the world to 37th, availability of research and training services slipped from 16th in the world to 23rd, and overall quality of education system slipped from 8th in the world to 23rd. These statistics were reinforced by the world Programme for International Student Assessment—PISA—rankings, which showed a similar decline.

If Labor's approach of spending borrowed money did not lead to better results in the past, why does the Leader of the Opposition think that throwing even more borrowed money in the future will somehow break this trend?

Nobel prizewinner Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The truth is we all need to break the trend in declining outcomes by looking at all the factors that are contributing to this phenomenon and addressing those directly.

International comparisons are useful; take, for example, South Korea. South Korea is ranked second overall as the world's best performing educational system, yet the Korean government spends less per student than the OECD average. The Grattan Institute concluded that teacher training and teacher mentoring was critical to their success. This example demonstrates that it is not simply the quantum of funding that delivers the best outcome for students but the focus on how those resources are best channelled. Our approach to education has been to look at what is working around the world and put together a comprehensive plan to improve educational outcomes.

As part of the government's Students First policy the government is working with the states and territories to focus on four key areas which make a real difference to students: improving teacher quality; increasing school autonomy; engaging parents in education; and strengthening the curriculum. What we will not do is put huge sums of unfunded spending beyond the forward estimates in the knowledge that the promises made will never have to be delivered upon. That is an irresponsible path.

We will act as a responsible government focused on the students of today and tomorrow rather than political point-scoring. It would be good if the opposition would do the same.

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