Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

I take that advice. Yesterday the member for Sturt said, ‘We can take our sweet time about this matter.’ Twiddling their thumbs was, of course, the characteristic of the now opposition when they were in government, and we see it again. They are now prepared to twiddle their thumbs in opposition. At least they are consistent about that, I suppose. The opposition does not care about educational standards and they do not care about funding certainty for non-government schools. It is about time that they started to. It is time that they actually accepted the responsibility for their actions.

Bill Griffiths, of the National Catholic Education Commission, raised another interesting point earlier today. He said that he does not know who the opponents of this legislation actually speak for. I think that many others are asking that same question. They do not speak for the Australian independent and Catholic schools. They do not speak for the hundreds of non-government schools pleading with them to pass this legislation. They do not speak for the 80,000 students who move interstate each year and go into a school with a different curriculum. They certainly do not speak for the majority of Australians, who voted for a national curriculum in November last year.

Senator Fielding himself admitted yesterday that most Australians want a national curriculum. So what part of the word ‘democracy’ does the opposition not understand? The reality is this: the opposition speak for no-one but themselves. Their only motivation is to score cheap political points. They think that this will not cost them anything and that they can act in their own sweet time, but their grandstanding is actually threatening to impose huge costs on Australian children and parents. They should make no mistake about this: our non-government schools need this $28 billion. The government cannot spend this money without parliamentary authorisation. The only way to provide that authorisation is by passing this bill. The opposition need to be very, very clear on this point. There is no contingency plan. There is nowhere for you to hide. You are the ones who are holding back the $28 billion which is so vital to the education of over 1.1 million Australians. The opposition are the ones who are actually threatening to wreck the non-government schools sector. They are the ones who are playing fast and loose with the education of Australia’s children. They had better be prepared to live with the consequences.