Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) and the Minister for Education and Training (Senator Birmingham) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to education funding.

I note in particular that the Minister for Education and Training gave no information on government fee modelling, or the modelling of the fee impact on schools, because their education deal is a dog of a deal.

You cannot succeed in a conniving manner forever. Eventually, the truth catches up with you. Former Prime Minister Howard learnt this, although it took years, in the 'children overboard' affair. Mr Turnbull should have learnt this lesson when he lost his leadership last time over the Godwin Grech saga, but now we have him and his education minister conniving their way through the Gonski education reforms. Mr Turnbull says he is not joining the Orange Lodge, but his and his education minister's attack on Catholic parish schools is an abuse of process and understanding. Senator Brandis should be ashamed of himself for allowing this through cabinet. He just does not get the Catholic education mission and is prepared to spin untruths to hide his real agenda, contrary to the Gonski recommendations.

I thought I would spend some time this week with the 'book of Gonski'. Mr Turnbull and Senator Birmingham claim that they have had a conversion on Gonski. Let's remind everyone what the real Gonski is. They should be ashamed of what they have done—this contrivance that they have delivered—and I will spend time this week debunking all of those myths. Let's have a quick recap of history. Mr Abbott, just before he became Prime Minister, said the difference between him and Labor on Gonski was wafer-thin. Then he came into government and he stopped the whole reform process. This is all history we know, so it is no surprise that Mr Gonski is relieved that we have moved back to needs-based funding. I would be relieved too.

Sure, the visual images of David Gonski last week gave the government some credence. But Mr Gonski, let us be clear here, simply agreed to conduct a review into how the Commonwealth government's funds should be used. That is all he agreed to. To his credit, David has always been very careful not to enter the school funding wars. But the government sought to co-opt him into their conniving. Mr Gonski's good name and reputation have been tarnished by this process.

Senator Brandis interjecting—

There is no question, Senator Brandis, that there is an enormous calibre gap between Mr David Gonski and this minister for education. Fortunately we have the record. It is in this report—what Mr Gonski recommended—and, quite contrary to what this government is claiming, Mr Gonski never recommended that the Commonwealth should apply a one-size-fits-all formula—never, ever did he recommend that. That is because unlike the education minister, Mr Gonski has a clear grasp of the complexity of school education funding.