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

I thank Senator Marshall for the question. In education, equality of opportunity is the first priority of a Labor government. That is why this government is committed to a needs-based funding arrangement for schools. This is the only way that we can break down the barriers of poverty and isolation. This is the key to ensuring that we actually have a richer and a fairer country that everyone in the country can share in. This is a commitment we have enshrined in the current education bill that has been introduced in the House.

So I am very disturbed by the findings of the Victorian Auditor-General. I am disturbed to see that the government of Victoria is failing the most disadvantaged. I am disturbed that Premier Baillieu is seeking to ensure that we are able to actually increase the levels of poverty, with more cuts to vocational learning. I am concerned, as the Auditor-General says, that, with no consultation, no prior research and no objective beyond a mere, measly $12 million save, in the state of Victoria substantial reductions in educational opportunities are being pursued by the Victorian state government.

This is in a state which has miraculously found $1.4 billion down the side of its metaphorical couch. This compares with the New South Wales government, who could only find $1 billion down their couch. Of course, we have seen the couches in Queensland being searched by the government in that state, which is so fond of crying poor and telling us there is a great crisis. The real crisis is the mismanagement of the state funding in those states. The Auditor-General report suggests that early school leavers— (Time expired)