Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Dastyari for his question. It is very interesting that Senator Dastyari should raise in the chamber the question of how one could trust a government, because the irony is not lost on me. It was after all Mr Shorten, who is now the opposition leader, who, as Minister for Education, chose to remove $1.2 billion from the education budget before the last election. It is also not lost on me—I think I have referred to this earlier today but I am very happy to go back to it—that it is in fact Labor Premier Jay Weatherill from South Australia who, notwithstanding having signed up to the previous government's education agreement, is now cutting $230 million from the South Australian education budget, confirmed by the South Australian parliament's budget and finance committee. If the senator opposite is concerned about trust, I suggest he take that up with the Leader of the Opposition and Premier Weatherill.