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

Madam Acting Deputy President, thank you for that. I assumed that Senator Collins was whispering words of support. I must have misheard her! Nonetheless, let me carry on.

I foreshadowed before that at the committee stage the coalition will be moving an amendment. This amendment does not debate the quality and structure of the national curriculum. This amendment does not debate the equity of funding for government and non-government schools. It is rather more simple than that. When I move the amendment in the committee stage it will be about having realistic time frames for non-government schools when the Gillard government has been dragging its heels. This amendment will seek to remove the 31 January 2012 deadline and replace it with a realistic time frame for non-government schools to implement the national curriculum prescribed by the regulations. This is a natural flow-on from Labor’s failure to keep to its original implementation schedule.

Why is this necessary? I am flagging it because at the last meeting of state and territory education ministers it was indicated that, in the real world, substantial implementation of the national curriculum will not begin in government schools until at least 2013. Yet the current act requires non-government schools to introduce the national curriculum prescribed by the regulations on or before 31 January 2012. Once again, the government has been dragging its heels, necessitating the coalition’s proposed amendment in the committee stage. This time line needs to be amended. Where is the common sense in the government asking non-government schools to introduce the national curriculum before its design is even finalised? What is needed here is a consistent approach to government and non-government schools. After all, we thought that was what the national curriculum was all about—having a common curriculum for non-government and government schools right across our country.

Last year we saw the government underdeliver on its original promise to have the national curriculum available to implement from the beginning of this year due to serious concerns about the quality of the national curriculum. The national curriculum has become another government failure as state education ministers last year at the ministerial council refused to begin implementation in January 2011 as was promised. I could, if I was provoked, again outline my concerns on the national curriculum. But I am not being provoked this morning, so perhaps I will not. I will spare the Senate a tutorial on my concerns about the national curriculum. The national curriculum time line is behind Labor’s original schedule, with some states and territories having announced they will not implement it until 2013. This bill obviously needs to be amended to remove the 31 January 2012 deadline for non-government schools as it simply is not realistic.

We know all too well what happens when the Gillard government rushes into policy implementation. Again, we do not have to look too far. And, again, if I was provoked, I could give some background about the Building the Education Revolution program and the pink batts scheme. I have been known to do that. However, this morning perhaps I will spare the Senate. However, I think it is fair to say that there are some implementation issues with respect to the government’s capacity to implement even policies that one might see as creative. But the Gillard government is at it again. It has not learnt its lesson. Mr Garrett, the relevant minister, knows firsthand the effect that rushing into policy implementation can have. Again, the implementation of the national curriculum has been slow. It has not been well handled. State governments are no longer uniform in their consent to implement it, and at the moment this legislation is inaccurate in the sense that it does not accurately reflect when non-government schools will be able to implement it.

The amendment that I will move at the committee stage is a common-sense amendment that seeks to restore a realistic time line for non-government schools to implement the national curriculum as a result of the Gillard government’s failure to keep to its original and stated schedule. The coalition, however, does welcome this bill and welcomes the extension of funding arrangements to non-government schools but calls on the government to support the amendment that I will circulate in the committee stage.