Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Universities and Research) Share this | Hansard source

The Schools Assistance Amendment (Financial Assistance) Bill 2011 seeks to amend the Schools Assistance Act 2008 to extend the current funding arrangements for non-government schools from 2012 to 2013 for recurrent funding and from 2012 to 2014 for capital grants. The coalition welcomes the extension to the current funding arrangements in this bill. It gives schools certainty and gives the review of school funding chaired by Mr David Gonski AC time to finish its work on reviewing the government funding formula for non-government schools.

I wish to foreshadow an amendment the coalition will move in the committee stage, but before I do that let me just give this debate a little bit of context. The Labor Party has had a long history of antagonism toward the funding of non-government schools, from right back to the prime ministership of Sir Robert Menzies and all the way, for 50 years, up to Mark Latham’s hit list of independent schools. For some reason—and I have never, ever been able to understand this—there has been an inherent loathing of, an antagonism towards, a suspicion of, non-government schools by Labor for over 50 years. This really is intergenerational loathing by the Australian Labor Party, and I have never quite been able to work that out.

Despite waxing and waning on the issue by the Labor Party, there is one very important golden rule in Australian politics, and it is this: the funding of non-government schools is never, ever safe, never, ever secure, under the Labor Party—ever. Funding for non-government schools is never secure under the Australian Labor Party. Every time they are in office, every time there is a review, non-government schools go into a huddle because the Labor Party will never secure their funding. Whether the Labor Party will continue to fund non-government schools, how much and by what formula always divides the Australian Labor Party between the Left and the Right. Non-government schools, Catholic schools and Christian schools can never, ever be certain, never be safe and never be secure about ongoing funding. That just is not possible under the Australian Labor Party. It never has been and it never will be.

Non-government schools are always in the Labor Party’s crosshairs. But this bill, which the coalition supports, means that the trigger will not be pulled on non-government schools at least until after the next federal election. What a coincidence. Again the Australian Labor Party has put off the decision about funding. There will not be a government reply until after the next federal election. Shock, horror, surprise—once again. Why? Because, in Australia, non-government schools, Christian schools and Catholic schools can never, ever take it for granted that the Labor Party will fund them—ever.

The Prime Minister has in the past, it is true, said that she is an economic conservative and then, on the weekend, by some divine revelation, the Prime Minister said she was a social conservative. Despite her now being both an economic and a social conservative, the Labor Party cannot be trusted with the funding of non-government schools. Let’s face it. I looked at the front page of the Australian today and Paul Kelly, a senior Australian journalist, said that Ms Gillard must come clean with her convictions. The fact is that Ms Gillard does not have strong convictions except those lent to her by the Labor lobbyists Hawker Britton. We now know that. But we should do what the Senate always does and review this legislation.