Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Science and Training and it follows on from her previous answer. Can the minister tell the House how much money the Howard government has allocated over the past 11 years specifically to enable Catholic, independent and government schools to share school facilities?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Howard government has a number of programs in place that encourage schools to share resources. The Boys’ Education Lighthouse Schools project, the school chaplaincy project and the Investing in Our Schools project are all programs that are designed to ensure that schools can share resources in appropriate circumstances.

One of the proudest boasts of the Howard government in education policy is that we have increased funding to schools across Australia by 160 per cent since we have been in government and there has been a 118 per cent increase to government schools. So the Australian government is committed to ensuring that, wherever students go to school in this country, they have access to a high-quality education. That is highlighted by the Australian government’s commitment to increased funding. What do we get from the Labor Party? No guarantee that they will not freeze the funds to Catholic and independent schools. Until such time as the Leader of the Opposition stands up and gives that guarantee, Labor have no credibility on schools policies.