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

The Labor point of view is that there can be no higher priority than spending on education. This is the basic premise on which we operate. What we say is you do not take money off the poor to give to the rich. We actually say that every Australian is entitled to a fair go. What we have seen, for instance in Victoria where there is a Liberal government—a real example of real action—is that 3,600 staff have been cut from the public service, 550 from the education department with $19 million cut from schools and staff bonuses for struggling families. In Victoria some $300 million has been cut from TAFE funding.

In Queensland we have seen a similar pattern where the Premier of that state argues that there should be 20,000 fewer public servants. He has already got rid of 7,000 of them. We know what Jeff Kennett's attitude is from when he said that all state budgets need to be 'savaged'—that was the word he used. (Time expired)