Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

My question is obviously to the education minister. In the context of his previous comments, obviously when he came to office the kids that were in prep are now coming up to the end of their time in primary school. The kids that started high school are now out in the workforce or at university learning or earning. I know that when the coalition started in office there was a certain number of school students. Now, in 2019, there are more school students. I taught English for 11 years, not maths, so I'm a little bit shaky on this, but I think if there are more school students there'll be more money connected with educating those students. So, whilst I appreciate his ability to teach grade 1 maths, I think he needs to go back to the core promise. Because I remember the then opposition leader Tony Abbott saying before he was elected, 'You can vote Labor. You can vote Liberal. Not a dollar difference to education.' I think it was at Panthers leagues club he made that statement—the former Prime Minister in the progression of prime ministers we've had.

Then what happened? One of the first acts of the coalition government—under Treasurer Morrison, in fact—was they cut $30 billion over the decade from projected school funding, and it showed up in their budget papers. And they have fundamentally failed to restore cuts. They keep saying there are more kids in schools so we give more money but they actually never addressed that fundamental broken promise. I look forward to the minister addressing that response. We know that by not investing in our students they are failing our future. They're not only failing our children; they're failing our future—the people that will have to look after us.

Let's look at some of the great legacy of this coalition government now that it's in its seventh year—and I take the member for Cooper's comment that it's getting an F. Personally I would have given it an E minus, but I'm happy to talk—

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