Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on this private member's bill—a bill which is based on false assumptions and scaremongering from an opposition that has not quite come to terms with the total chaos that was their previous government. What cuts? Do those opposite mean their own $1.2 billion worth of cuts that they made to education before the 2013 election to hide some of their black hole of debt—the very same $1.2 billion that the coalition then reinvested in education after Labor took it away? What cuts?

Those opposite are in denial. They refuse to accept that, because of the debt of $123 thousand million they created, we simply cannot afford the blue-sky promises Labor made but never wrote down in any budget papers. Those opposite still believe in their alternate universe filled with their delusions of false accomplishments.

The previous Gillard-Rudd governments took the 'deal at any cost' approach to education in order to desperately cling on to power instead of acting in the best interests of students. The school funding model Labor promised to some states was by no means equal, let alone realistic. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory had not reached funding agreements with the Rudd-Gillard government, so Labor impatiently then ripped $1.2 thousand million out of the total funding package. However, this $1.2 billion was then reinvested by the coalition government in the December MYEFO. As these jurisdictions had not reached any agreement with the previous government, the funding they are getting under the coalition government is much better than what they would have received otherwise.

If you look at the projected expenditure of Labor's education funding, it is hard to tell if it is simply an economic joke or a malicious time bomb planted by reckless politicians who knew they would never have to face reality and pay up. Quite simply, a vast majority of the so-called 'promised funding' comes well after the forward estimates, so Labor never had to write it into a budget paper. Yes, they may have written it on pretty fliers with grandiose slogans like 'The Education Revolution' or 'Gillard Youth' along with their infamous 'We Have Delivered a Surplus' brochures; but, quite simply, the funding behind these promises was about as genuine as the former member for Griffith's selfies. What does surprise me, however, is that, for all the boasting those opposite do about how they are the party of education, not once did they stop to think about how best to spend the Commonwealth's education funds, how to actually take action against the steadily falling national school scores.

I would like to point out that in this federation that is Australia school education is a responsibility of the state governments and the federal government, which really has no responsibility over schools, contributes approximately 15 per cent of the total schooling budget for states and territories. Fifteen per cent, not 50. The way those opposite are talking, you would think that the federal government was the sole funder of states' schools.

Additionally, it may come as a shock, but for the last two decades Commonwealth spending on schools has been increasing. Yet still results have dropped. If you look at a graph from the Productivity Commission's Report on government services 2014, it shows that as funding has increased the Program for International Student Assessment scores have decreased in both literacy and numeracy. This is because governments should not just be recklessly throwing money at our education system and hoping for the best, as the previous Labor government did. Instead, as the coalition government is doing through our Students First plan, we should be focusing on the four key areas that evidence shows will make a real difference to students. Those key areas are teacher quality, school autonomy, engaging parents and strengthening the curriculum.

In summary, we have a coalition government which is committing $1.2 billion more to schools than Labor. We have a coalition government which is being honest with states, territories, school students and their parents, showing that funding will continue to increase beyond the forward estimates while still being open to negotiations with the states. The coalition government, instead of just throwing money at a problem and hoping it will go away, is putting students first and investing in teacher quality for a stronger education system and a brighter future for all students. This bill is as much a circus act as the previous government.

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