Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. The government went to the last election with a very strong commitment to ending the blame game that so much represented the conflict between the states and the Commonwealth over the provision of services. I think the Australian public understand that that had been a very negative influence on our capacity to deliver services.

The outcome of last weekend’s meeting will deliver better services to Australian families and will be funded from the existing budget surpluses. The historic agreement reached over the weekend also has a strong emphasis on reviving our flagging productivity growth, especially in education and infrastructure investment, which will boost Australia’s economic capacity. The meeting also marked a new beginning in federal-state relations, with governments from across the political divide working together to strengthen the economy, protect jobs and deliver better services to Australian people.

The COAG national reform package will help create 133,000 jobs, it will invest $15.1 billion to stimulate the economy and it will drive significant reform in health, education, housing, business deregulation and the government’s aim of closing the Indigenous life expectancy gap. Through the COAG processes, the Australian government will invest $15.1 billion in a national reform package focused on some of the key challenges in delivering services to Australians. They are looking to focus on those key challenges of improving schools and hospitals and the need to train more quality teachers, nurses and doctors and looking to improve those services that are most important for families in Australia to help provide assurance for them about an education for their kids and their health. (Time expired)