Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. This morning it is reported that a Liberal Party member and mother of a child at Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School has said about the government's cuts to Catholic schools, and I quote:

I can’t begin to describe how disappointed I am with this government right now … that we are being hung out to dry by our own MPs.

Why is the Prime Minister hanging the parents of schoolchildren out to dry just because they choose to send their children to a Catholic primary school?

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

The funding for all school systems increases over the 10 years that we have set out: $18.6 billion in total. Funding for Catholic schools over that period is $81 billion and increases over that period by $3.4 billion in total. These are substantial increases across the Catholic systems. Catholic students across Australia will receive substantial increases in funding. That is a fact. The proposition that there is a cut is absolute nonsense. It is based on the fantasy figures of the Leader of the Opposition.

The fact of the matter is that each of the Catholic systems will receive funding in a block and they will have the ability to distribute it between their schools as they see fit. That is a fact. They will receive it in a block. The way it is estimated by the government, based on need, is fully transparent. But if the Catholic systems wish to distribute the funds and allocate them to their schools in a different manner than is set out in the estimator, that is their right, as it always has been. The Leader of the Opposition thinks that if you repeat something often enough, it will become true. It will not. The fact of the matter is that he is the one who let down Australian students. He let down Australian students. He offered more money. He never had it; he never paid for it. We are delivering it.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

The member for Sydney says they always had it. The only thing they had was a massive financial hallucination. They cannot count, they cannot be consistent, they hate transparency, and the only needs based funding they have ever focused on is the needs of the Australian Labor Party.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

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

The member for Sydney is warned.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

The member for Sydney will now leave under 94(a).

The member for Sydney then left the chamber.