Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am thrilled today to rise on this MPI because everyone in this place knows how important I think school education is. I am very pleased too because I had a question for question time that I did not get to ask—because the Prime Minister finished question time. So I suppose I could posit it now; perhaps the member for Brisbane might help me in answering this. The member for Menzies called for the government to give the details of the funding model to the party room because the crossbenchers have them but the party room do not have them.

So my question is now to the member for Brisbane: have you seen the detail? We would like to call on the government to bring it in here. I would like to see the detail, and so would all of the parents of kids in schools in my electorate of Lalor. Every parent across Lalor would like to see the government's numbers. They have seen the fantasy numbers; now they would like to see the ones they are shopping around the crossbench. It is important for the member for Brisbane to understand that apparently there is a quote from Senator Roberts, from One Nation, that says: 'We like the fact that this proposal from the federal government will reduce spending.' The crossbench know it is a reduction, the gallery know it is a $22.3 billion cut, but those opposite on the backbench have been kept in the dark. They might want to go and spend some time with Voldemort.

On the day this policy was announced, the Prime Minister said to the press gallery, 'I will end the funding wars in education.' We all heard the man. Well, hasn't he had a lesson! This is the biggest funding war we have seen in 50 years. You could not divide the sectors any more. You could not be any more anti David Gonski's vision if you tried. He has the Catholics wanting to tear out his throat, he has the public sector wanting to tear out his throat and now, today, we think the independent sector are going to want to tear out his throat. He has restarted the funding wars. He has absolutely set the dogs loose. And now these funding wars are being played out in his own party room. This man is a genius, isn't he? As the member for Sydney said, 'This is some special kind of genius.'

Of course, we all know that our Prime Minister and Minister Birmingham are the smartest people in the room—just ask them. They are right. Despite teachers saying they are wrong, despite principals saying they are wrong, despite leaders of sectors across this nation saying they are wrong, despite state governments saying they are wrong—even those of their own colour—despite parents saying they are wrong, they continue to march in here and tell us that they are right. Honest to goodness, you could not read about this. I have stood here for four years now, and when Minister Pyne was in charge of education he would stand at that dispatch box and say, 'Money doesn't matter,' and, 'Labor's dishonest because it promised funding beyond the forward estimates.' Remember those? Guess what? Those across the other side of the chamber are promising funding out to 2027. I think that might be beyond the forward estimates.

Now, I do need to include a report card for Minister Birmingham. Teachers across the country are writing reports this week, so I am sure they will all enjoy listening to this. My message to Senator Birmingham is really simple: you should spend more time bringing people together; you should spend less time playing favourites; you would get along much better in the classroom if you united people rather than divided them. That is my assessment of Minister Birmingham's social education. All kids have to learn to collaborate, and the key to collaboration is bringing people together.

Of course, that is what we on this side did. The former Labor government saw a major problem and they put their heads together and said, 'How can we solve this problem? How can we ensure a needs-based funding model for every child in every school? How can we bring everybody together around an idea?' And they delivered it. It is a pity some members opposite have not read that review. They keep quoting the man who wrote it, but they forget to read it.

The other point that I have to make before I finish is that there is only one party in this parliament that does not want to punish one sector in comparison to another. There is only one party that wants to bring in needs-based, sector-blind funding, and that is— (Time expired)

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