Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

They go on guffawing, but, as soon as you challenge them to a debate, as soon as you say, 'Come to a public location and bring out the data,' suddenly the Labor Party—the great Labor Party of reform—becomes mute. Their federal and state members scurry away like rodents, reluctant to debate anything, because they want to stick to ridiculous talking points.

Do you know what? You've actually got a bible. It's right here. Gonski gave you the chance. He laid out the ingredients for you on the bench. All you needed was the Thermomix to finish the job—but, no. You got de-elected, and we've come to power and produced a simple road map for the future. This says very simply: regarding investing, as the OECD says—don't take my word for it, don't believe me; I'm blue, right? Talk to the OECD—Australia has the most sector-blind, need-blind funding to those who need it, above every other nation. We don't invest the most money—correct—but there are two nations in the OECD who invest more and get poorer results, and there are two nations who invest less and get better results. We're in the sweet spot in the OECD. We're not near the Asian economies; I accept that. We are catching up very rapidly with the Scandinavian economies on school outcomes. It's not a disaster area.

Can I tell you what the greatest threat is in education policy? It is the great party over there that once was the champion for education quality and is suddenly fixated on cuts. I know they'll do their mental kabuki and find a way to call it a cut. It wouldn't matter what we did, right? It would be a cut. It wouldn't matter how much money rolled into schools right across Australia; they'd find a way to call it a cut, and they'd stand up the front with their unions. I'll tell you what they do. They may well have a message for the poorly educated people who don't understand school policy and who'll buy the cut stuff, but the average mum and dad in the pick-up zone want to know more. They want to know how much the funding is going up and, more importantly, how quality education is being delivered for our next generation.

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