Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have looked high and low to find a motion on these matters, and you just cannot find it. When we are being beaten by countries like Kazakhstan and Slovenia one has to ask the question: what are we doing about quality and performance? On this side of the House, we are doing something about quality and performance. That is why we have commissioned Ken Boston and David Gonski to do the Gonski 2.0 inquiry, where they are reviewing teaching and learning strategies, and where they want to do something to reverse the declining results and to raise the performance of schools and students. They are going to produce their final report by the end of 2017 in time for negotiations with the states and territories in relation to the next agreement.

It is to be hoped that those opposite treat Gonski 2.0 better than they have treated Gonski 1.0. We have had this long series of funding fallacy motions from those opposite. You do not have to believe me; you do not have to believe conservative think tanks. You can believe the ABC Fact Check, which said, on these matters: 'Labor is sprouting rubbery figures.' This so-called $22 billion cut never existed. If you believed that Labor was going to spend $22 billion more on education funding, you would believe that they would have also delivered us a surplus. They kept promising to deliver surpluses, and we never got them.

Labor has had many opportunities to support the Gonski program. But when they will be given the opportunity to vote for sector-blind, needs-based, transparent funding, as they will be shortly, they are going to vote against it. The vote against it is to vote against Gonski. Here is what David Gonski himself said at the announcement of the government's funding plan. This is the person that the Labor Party chose to do the funding review. This is the person that the Labor Party and the trade unions plastered over every school, every train station and every available piece of public land in everyone's electorate. This is what Mr Gonski had to say about our proposals in relation to funding.

… I'm very pleased to hear that the Turnbull Government has accepted the fundamental recommendations of our 2011 report, and particularly regarding a needs-based situation.

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… I'm very pleased that there is substantial additional money, even over indexation and in the foreseeable future.

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… when we did the 2011 review, our whole concept was that there would be a school's resource standard which would be nominated and we nominated one, and I'm very pleased that the Turnbull Government has taken that …

That is a ringing endorsement from David Gonski. If you are going to support the Gonski funding model, you have to support the proposals that we have put forward here.

The truth is the coalition is actually delivering record funding in education and record funding for schools. A record $242.3 billion will be invested in total schools recurrent funding from 2018 to 2027, including $81.1 billion over 2018 to 2021. Funding in schools will grow from a record $17½ billion in 2017 to $30.6 billion in 2027. Funding will grow faster than broader economic growth, with total Commonwealth funding growing by approximately 75 per cent over the next 10 years and funding per student growing at an average of 4.1 per cent per year.

I plead with those opposite: this is the best chance that we have for transparent, sector-blind, needs-based funding. I ask them to join with us on this side of the House and to give a Gonski.

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