Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The ATM government, the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government, has been around for five years now, and five years into the ATM government we still don't have a comprehensive, cohesive schools policy. What we have is a series of cuts and abandoned reforms. Many on this side—I'm pretty sure everybody on this side—will remember the 2013 election campaign and those blue and white signs on polling booths around Australia: 'You can vote Liberal, you can vote Labor, and there will be not a dollar difference to your school.' Those corflutes were very popular on polling booths that were schools because those opposite knew that, if they told the truth about what they intended for schools in this country, no parent would vote for them, no teacher would vote for them and no-one who's at all concerned about education in this country would vote for them. So they promised: 'Just like Labor; we'll be just like Labor.'

Then what did they do? In the very first budget they had—that horrible, toxic, destructive 2014 budget—$30 billion was cut from schools. It's there in black and white. They had a graph boasting about it in the budget overview document. They were so proud of the fact they were going to cut $30 billion from schools that they had a special graph showing it, with pretty pictures as well. Of course, that couldn't get through this parliament. We on this side stopped that; we prevented that.

Then came Malcolm Turnbull, the great saviour of the Liberal Party. He was going to soften the rough edges of the Abbott-Hockey years. So what did he do? He said: 'We're not going to cut $30 billion from schools. You're right; it's too much. We're just going to cut $22 billion from schools.' I have here the press release that those opposite put out on the day they announced their Gonski 2.0 funding deal, and this is what their very own press release says:

Compared to Labor's arrangements, this represents a savings of $6.3 billion over 4 years … and $22.3 billion over 10 years …

'A saving of $22.3 billion over 10 years'—somehow those opposite keep saying that's not a cut. I'm not really sure how they think a saving and a cut are two different things. It was $22.3 billion. Of course, they couldn't get that through the Senate—not quite. What they got through the Senate was an amended saving of $17 billion. That was $17 billion to be cut from our schools. And do you know what? Today's press conference with the Prime Minister and the Minister for Education was finally, at long last, an admission of this cut. It was an admission that billions of dollars have been cut from Catholic and independent schools. And congratulations to Catholic and independent schools, because they've run a strong campaign against the funding cuts; they've had their complaints recognised.

But who hasn't had their complaints dealt with by this government? It is the 2½ million Australian school children who go to public schools and their millions of parents and their millions of grandparents and their teachers and their principals. Two-thirds of kids in Australia go to public schools and, in fact, the majority of kids that need extra help go to public schools—74 per cent of students with disabilities, 82 per cent of students from the bottom quarter of socioeconomic advantage and 84 per cent of Indigenous children. Today, they got nothing. Those children got nothing from this government. They got nothing from this government. There were billions of dollars cut—not the whole amount cut, but billions of dollars—and a signed confession to the Catholic and independent sector. There is not a dollar of the $14 billion that was cut from public schools over the next decade.

No-one voted for this Prime Minister to cut $17 billion from schools. No-one voted for him. He was the Treasurer who wanted to cut $17 billion from schools at the same time as giving a $17 billion tax cut to the big banks. Australians have rightly said: 'No way. No thank you.' But today's announcement is an admission from this government, finally, that billions of dollars have been cut from our schools. There is no way that this parliament can accept a situation where some of that funding is restored only for Catholic schools and only for independent schools and not for the sector that educates the most children in Australia.

There's an admission today that billions of dollars have been cut, and I'm pleased that the government has finally faced up to that. One of the things that is tragically sad about the chaos that is bedevilling those opposite is that it's not just the billions of dollars cut from schools that troubles Australian parents and teachers; it's the fact that, for five years, there has been no reform agenda for our schools. We say, on this side, that we will restore every dollar of the $17 billion cut from schools. That's very important. It's very important to get the funding right, but what is it that we do with that money?

When the member for Sturt became the Minister for Education, he threw out all of the reform that the previous Labour government had managed to get the states and territories and the Catholics and independent schools to sign up to. He said: 'That's just red tape. We don't need any of that.' The poor old sucker minister opposite, who has been brought in to clean up the mess made in the education portfolio by Senator Birmingham, has now gone begging to the states. He has this national school reform agreement. It has been leaked, of course. Like everything else, it has been leaked by those opposite. You look at this national school reform agreement, and what does it have in here? It has a whole lot of the reforms that Labor had the states and territories agree to five years ago, which were junked by the member for Sturt when he was education minister. It is back to the future! We've got a great example of time travel here!

The tragedy of this is that a child who started high school when those opposite were elected at the beginning of the ATM government—that is, a child who started high school when Tony Abbott became Prime Minister—has gone right through high school with none of these reforms implemented. There's no plan for school improvement and no plan for school system improvement. The poor old sucker minister opposite, who has been brought in to clean up the mess, now has to go begging to the states and territories. He will say: 'You know that stuff that you signed up to five years ago? You know that stuff we said you didn't have to do anymore? Well, look, here's the deal: I cut $14 billion from your schools over the next 10 years and you sign up to the reforms that we said you didn't have to do anymore.' Really? Is that the best we can do for Australian children? There are $14 billion of cuts and no school reform agenda.

Take the example of a unique student identifier: we had that work underway five years ago. How much have we progressed with that? What about a national schools evidence institute, recommended by the second Gonski review? We committed to that months ago. We committed to a $280 million evidence institute for schools. We committed to that months ago. Will those opposite commit to using that sort of evidence for continued school improvement? There is not a dollar extra for a schools evidence institute.

This is the icing on the cake here. Yesterday, we asked the Prime Minister why COAG—the meeting that was due to deal with all of these issues around the funding and the reform—has been cancelled. The Prime Minister, in a completely tasteless move, tried to say the reason was the drought. He said, 'We can't talk about schools because this is the worst drought in a century.' Everybody on this side believes we should be dealing with that, but it doesn't mean that we can't deal with any other issue. Apparently the Prime Minister, who's only been in the job three weeks, can do only one meeting a month. He's on a go-slow already. He's only been there five minutes. You'd think he'd still be full of vim and vigour and enthusiasm for the job. The Prime Minister committed the Minister for Education to getting signed agreements with the states in the next two weeks, before that 4 October date. Apparently they don't need COAG because they're going to get signed agreements anyway. Well, I challenge the minister: let's see the agreements.

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