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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that the Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Education has written to the principal of every public school in New South Wales stating the Commonwealth budget leaves 'a shortfall from our existing agreement of $1.8 billion'? Is the Prime Minister aware that the email also refers to information sent out by the Commonwealth education minister saying, 'You should not rely on these figures for future planning or budgeting purposes'? (Time expired)

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will cease interjecting.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member will be aware that, under the Quality Schools package that is part of this budget, government schools in New South Wales will have total funding over 10 years of $31 billion, an 83 per cent increase in funding over 10 years. The question for the honourable member and her colleagues is: do they actually have a schools policy at all? She says she has 27 contradictory and secret deals.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Funny money—Monopoly money, $22 billion she was not prepared to commit to only a few days ago. What we have done is fully implement the Gonski recommendations of nationally consistent needs based funding.

Opposition members interjecting—

Honourable members complain. Certainly David Gonski was there when we announced it. He endorsed it, because he knows that what the Labor Party did was to corrupt his recommendations. They did not deliver the model that he provided at all.

The reality is this: we are committing an additional $18.6 billion to schools over the decade, a 75 per cent increase right across the nation, across government and non-government schools, and we are bringing them to this—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Sydney on a point of order—and she will state the point of order.

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

Yes, Mr Speaker. It is on relevance, because there is an email and letter that—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney will resume her seat. The Prime Minister is being relevant to the question.

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

I seek leave to table this—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, you cannot seek leave to table when you have risen on a point of order. You can seek leave to table at the conclusion of the answer.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are delivering over the decade a 75 per cent increase in funding. We are delivering for government schools 20 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard right across the nation, because of course for these government schools the primary funder is the state or territory government. For non-government schools, we are delivering 80 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard, adjusted in accordance with their SES and, of course, added to with loadings for various matters: disabilities, low-socioeconomic background, English as a second language, Indigeneity and so forth. So it is a very thorough model.

The question for the Labor Party is this: if they say more money needs to be expended, are they saying that the federal government should pay a larger share of government schools' costs or of non-government schools' costs?

Are they saying the Schooling Resource Standard is not high enough or the loadings are not high enough? It has got to be one of those.

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

So Labor needs a policy. Twenty-seven secret deals, 27 secret betrayals of Gonski's vision, is not a policy; it is an embarrassment.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the member for Sydney, the member for Ballarat is warned. I understand the member for Sydney is seeking leave to table a document.

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

I am, Mr Speaker. I am seeking leave to table this email that went to every principal in New South Wales saying, 'You can't trust the Liberals on education.'

Leave not granted.

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government's fair and fully funded budget is delivering opportunity and security for 24 million Australians, including those in my electorate of Banks?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I know that, in his electorate of Banks and in the electorates of all honourable members, there are many parents with children who are disabled who are grateful that at long last the parliament appears to be on the point of honouring the commitment to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and fully funding it. That is what we are doing. The Labor government left the National Disability Insurance Scheme unfunded. We are rising to the challenge and ensuring it is funded.

I ask one question for the opposition leader: will Labor support the increase in the Medicare levy to fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme? It was only a few years ago, when Labor increased the Medicare levy to partially fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme, that the Leader of the Opposition, in a passionate call for bipartisanship, said, 'No-one could be that dumb to put politics before this critical reform.' The question is: will he play politics on this reform? The member for Warringah, at the time the NDIS was announced, as leader of the coalition said, 'This is a reform whose time has come,' and now the time has come to pay for it. The time has come to fund it. The time has come to be fair and honest to all Australians and recognise that we should put the money back in that important policy—that important insurance scheme.

It is fair, vitally fair, to be able to say to all Australian school students, 'You will receive Commonwealth funding consistently, fairly and based on needs, totally transparently, with everything disclosed—not with 27 secret deals conflicting with schoolchildren in one part of the country receiving less than children in another but totally transparent.

Again, it is fair and honest to fully fund and guarantee Medicare to restore indexation and to create a Medicare Guarantee Fund so that every year from 1 July all Australians will see, in priority, the moneys are placed in that fund to fund Medicare and the PBS. Again, we ask whether the Leader of the Opposition will support that measure. Will he do that? After all, he talks a lot about Medicare. Will he back our fairness, our support, for the NDIS, for a fair schools policy and for the guarantee of Medicare?