George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Collins, firstly, your question is based on an entirely false premise—that there has been a broken promise—and, secondly, the answer to your question, 'Will the government follow dollar for dollar the Labor Party's policies?' is: we will not be imitating the Labor Party's policies, because they are bad policies. When we invest in education, just as when we invest in any other area of social spending, or indeed with any spending, we make sure that there is the money in the budget to pay for it. That is the big difference, Senator Collins—through you, Mr President—between your side of politics, who promise the world but never find the money to afford it, and our side of politics, who actually spend money that is accounted for in the budget. That is why we have been able to commit a record $73.9 billion in education funding, in schools funding, over the next four years. (Time expired)