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

I am so glad the honourable member for Sydney has spoken up. Why indeed! Why indeed is the honourable member for Sydney unable to count? She said this morning that thousands of Catholic schools are going to lose out under our model—there are only 1,700 Catholic schools in the whole country! She is drawing one long bow after another, unable to defend any element of her inconsistency. She twisted and turned, tying herself into a tighter and tighter knot, in what must have been one of the more memorable train wreck interviews that the honourable member has engaged in. The first thing you need to know for a school funding model is how many schools there are, just like it is important to know the difference between a continent and a country when you get into foreign policy.

All of these things are fundamental threshold points that I would encourage the honourable member to pursue. We are not pursuing 27 secret deals—there is one consistent, national, needs based funding model. We are not going to be distracted by the opposition's baseless scare campaigns, contradicted by the Catholic education authorities, not the least of which was the Archdiocese of Brisbane, which confirmed to the parents of their students that school funding from the federal government will increase and they thank the federal government for that commitment. (Time expired)

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