Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Hansard source

Now, I do talk about quality a lot, and it is fair to say that I am compensating for the lack of focus on the other side for a quality education outcome, but it is desperately important and it is, quite frankly, something that we all should be focusing on. What we see day after day—now week after week—is the same old rhetoric from those opposite. They want to talk about schools, they do not want to talk about other parts of education and they are totally ignoring the vocational education and training sector, which is really a very strong focus of this government going forward because, once again, we have to deal with the nonsense that gets put by the opposition about the facts in vocational education and skills.

The point I am making here is that education is not just about schools; education covers many factors. It covers early childhood education, schools, vocational education and higher education. Schools are certainly a very important part of that. I think it is probably fair to say that schools are the linchpin of the education sector. When we talk about schools, funding and education, we have to look at what the outcomes are going to be from our schools to make sure that we are equipping our students for the jobs of the future. I have said on many occasions in this place that what is important is to make sure that we are equipping our students for the jobs of the future. I hope that at some stage those opposite actually do put forward an MPI that talks more broadly about quality education and more broadly about vocational education and skills. I would be delighted to participate in that.

I only have a couple of minutes left in this debate and I would like to read onto the transcript a few of the, effectively, third-party endorsements for the plans that we have put up. I will start with David Gonski and comments that he made in a media conference on 2 May. He said:

… 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.

…   …   …

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

Dr Ken Boston, Gonski review member and certainly a leading education policymaker, said Australia is on the cusp of, and I quote, 'a new deal of historic national importance'. He went on to say:

There are no grounds for opposition to the schools funding bill in principle …

He also said:

It will be a tragedy if the school funding bill is voted down in the Senate.

We also have some very interesting comments here from Kathryn Greiner, and it is interesting because she was also a Gonski review member. She was quoted in TheSydney Morning Herald on 13 June as having said:

I agree 100 per cent with what Ken said—it would be a disaster for Australian education if this doesn't pass.

This is the first time a government in this country has drawn a line in the sand, removed the funding anomalies and got everyone on the same page. Gonski 2.0 delivers what the Gonski report wanted: an accountable, transparent, equitable, sector-blind funding formula. And, of course, there are many more, but I would actually like to finish with this quote from Martin Hanscamp, the executive officer at the Australian Association of Christian Schools: 'AACS would like to express its profound support for the bold schools funding policy. We have two schools in the group of 24 and their hits are not insubstantial. However, rather than join the line of critics from those affected who have responded from their self-interest perspective, we would like to loudly applaud a policy approach that is good for all schools and sectors and, as has been said, provides an opportunity to put an end to the ridiculous school funding wars. We are sending in this short and strong message because we do not want good policy swamped by the loud voices of those who are negatively impacted. We are one of those. We have a further six schools also above SRS, and our collective of Christian schools across Australia want to stand and applaud what we see as good policy action.' (Time expired)

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