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

Senator Cameron, I hear all too often the claim made that there is no link between funding and education attainment. I would have thought the link was in fact self-evident. I am particularly concerned about those opposite who take this view because it is quite clearly a substantive attack upon those who spend very large sums of money at the private schools across the country—think about it. In some schools in this country, we are seeing fees being charged in excess of $30,000 per child per year. Yet it is asserted that people who pay that sort of money clearly are wasting their funds, that they are being dudded. That seems to be the argument: that there is no link between funding and attainment. Tell the people at Geelong Grammar that. We know that this proposition is ludicrous. We have to look at the facts on this matter and the facts are that funding for disadvantaged groups has meant that there has been better attainment in this country for people who are otherwise disadvantaged. (Time expired)