Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Mason for his question. It has been a long time. I look forward to many more questions from him. I will say that Senator Mason does actually care about this stuff. He is actually interested. That is very unusual on the other side.

Senator Mason, I would urge you not to rely upon newspaper reports about these figures because they are not the figures that the government can confirm, they are not based on government proposals; they are assumptions that are made with figures that do not bear any resemblance to the government's policy. The school should not in any way take seriously those reports because this government is not about cutting funding. As I have indicated, this is now the third opportunity I have had today to indicate this, the government's view is that no school will lose money under our plan. In fact school funding for every school—for government, for independent, for Catholic—will continue to rise under our plan for school improvements.

We have always said that no school will lose a dollar of funding per student, and that is what this government will deliver. The government has indicated, and the minister and the Prime Minister have confirmed today, that no school will lose a dollar of funding per student, and that is what we will deliver. We are about ensuring that all Australians benefit from an improved education system. As a consequence, this nation as a whole benefits from an improved education system. We want to ensure that the states and territories do their fair share as well, and we are in the business of discussing with them their funding commitments in the forthcoming period. We want to make sure that no school loses a dollar of funding, and we are outlining our plans to deliver that in the next few weeks. (Time expired)