Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Sadly, the only alternative appears to be those opposite, who want to engage in a spend-a-thon. Void of any policy or principle, their policy, as Senator Cormann rightly points out—not that it is funded, because they spend money time and time again that the nation does not have—is a spend-a-thon void of any principle that aligns with the Gonski report, void of any practical policy and void of any idea as to how they will do it, aside from maintaining 27 different funding deals and special arrangements around the country. They, of course, are failing to commit to the actual vision that David Gonski had and Ken Boston had. It has not just been endorsed by them; it has been endorsed by organisations like the Australian Council of State School Organisations, by the Primary Principals Association, by the Grattan Institute and by a long list of people, who have said that the Labor Party should get on board with the type of reform that they commissioned in a report but never had the guts to implement themselves.