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

I thank Senator McKenzie, the Chair of the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, for her question and for her deep interest and really hard work in this policy area.

Of course, Senator McKenzie, in terms of those who have come out endorsing and supporting the Turnbull government's reforms, we should start with the Gonski panellists themselves. On the day of the announcement we had David Gonski out there saying how very pleased he was that the Turnbull government was accepting the fundamental recommendations of his report. Secondly, we saw Bill Scales on 7.30 indicate that he believed that the criticisms and concerns that some had expressed were not well founded and that funding was being directed to places of high need. Thirdly, this week we have had Ken Boston come out and say, 'There are no grounds for opposition to the schools funding bill'—no grounds, he said. He said, 'It will be a tragedy if the school funding bill is voted down'—a tragedy, he said. Fourthly, we have Kathryn Greiner out there today saying, 'It would be a disaster for Australian education if this doesn't pass.' Kathryn Greiner went on to highlight, as she said:

This is the first time a government in this country has drawn a line in the sand, removed the funding anomalies and got everybody on the same page.

Kathryn Greiner went on and said:

Gonski 2.0 delivers what the Gonski report wanted: an accountable, transparent, equitable, sector-blind funding formula.

Not one member of Labor's hand-picked Gonski panel, not two members of Labor's hand-picked Gonski panel, not three members of the hand-picked Labor panel, but four members of the Gonski panel hand-picked by the previous Labor government have urged for this legislation to pass. Yet still the Labor Party stands in its way.