Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hope you are listening, Minister Johnston. Heaven forbid that ministers from either side of politics be paid based on performance! Some on the other side would be handing money back to the department of finance if performance pay were introduced into their ranks. Imagine for a moment that ministers were paid for performance: how would Minister Bishop be earning hers, if she was earning any at all? Why might the Treasurer sign off on her bonus after such a scathing dressing-down? It is a bit like a mid-year performance review that went badly wrong for the employee in question. How might the minister salvage her bonus, which is very much in danger of going down the gurgler—by maligning public school teachers? Maybe blaming someone else might save her bonus. It might help. After all, blaming others is one of the few skills, if you can call it that, which she brings to the job. But maybe the best way for Minister Bishop to save her bonus is to do exactly as she did. As soon as Treasurer Costello pulled her nose she fell back into line so quickly she certainly went a long way towards restoring her prospects.

Speaking of performance and dedication—something Minister Julie Bishop is obviously lacking in—I want to return to Forrestfield Senior High School and make particular mention of the principal, Mr Peter Noack, who is ably assisted by Mr Greg Maynard, head of the physical education department. At Forrestfield high school they have successfully combined academic and sporting excellence with a series of sports colleges incorporated into the school structure so that gifted young sports women and men can integrate their school studies while they develop their sporting skills. This way of doing things is paying off in a big way. Not only are the students successful academically; they are also very successful in their various sports at state and national level.