Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. We know that we have hit a raw nerve, because they do not want people to be reminded that leading into the 2013 election they said they would match Labor's funding for education, dollar for dollar. That was the promise writ large on posters right around the country at every school where people were voting. They lied. And the minute they got into parliament in that 2014 budget, they attempted to cut funding from the Gonski model, from needs based funding for Australian students.

It is blatantly obvious that this government refuses to treat education as a national priority. The outcome is their lack of vision for the future of this nation. I have heard those opposite say that needs based reform is too expensive. I have heard them say that we cannot afford it. I have heard them say that it is not working. But this is nonsense to any person who has a young student at school right now; because, although it has only been going for a couple of years, the impact of the proper investment in needs based education is transforming what teachers are able to do and the learning that is able to happen for our students in schools.

When will this government come to understand the blindingly obvious, that rather than saying we cannot afford to invest significantly in education, the truth is we cannot afford not to invest. It is all very well for the Prime Minister to go on about Australia as an innovation nation—although, I do notice he has gone a bit quiet on that lately—when we spend less on schools per capita of the GDP than the OECD average: 18 per cent for primary compared to the OECD average of 22 per cent. We are below the average of our competitors. And they continue to tell lies about the amount of money that is being invested. It is 23 per cent for students in secondary school compared to the average OECD contribution of 25 per cent. That is way below the spending of some of our regional economic competitors.

When Labor negotiated the Gonski needs based funding with states and territories, we did so with very clear targets in mind and a clear plan on how we were to get there. When the Liberals got elected, they threw this plan out. They said states could have Commonwealth funding with no strings attached. They did not even make sure the states kept investing in schools. So it is very, very rich of the Liberals to turn around now and say to the states, 'You need to reform your schools.' They threw out the extensive reforms that Labor argued were needed. And they are ignoring the reality that investing in schools—where the Gonski money has gone—is actually making a profound difference and improvement in students' learning.