Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I wonder, in Labor's parallel universe of fakery and fraud, who gets more money? I guess it is determined on political grounds. That would have to be it. It is not a matter of science; it is a matter of political science. It is not a matter of educational needs; it is a matter of political needs. That is why Ken Boston, as I noted earlier, a distinguished and respected educationalist, described Labor's mishmash of failed, unfunded policies as a corruption—his words, not mine—of Gonski's model.

We know that under Labor's model a needy student with special needs in one state could get $1,500 less than a student with exactly the same needs in another state. The inconsistency, the injustice! No fairness. It is not needs based, unless one uses the member for Sydney's dictionary, in which things mean the opposite of what they ought to mean. This is literally black meaning white. That is what she is saying. That is what Labor is saying.

They had the opportunity to implement a consistent needs-based funding model. We are doing it, and we are spending $18.6 billion—additional money—over the decade. Every year we are spending that money. At the end of the decade—

Ms Butler interjecting

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