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

The only alternative proposal that I am aware of is the embarrassing proposition of those opposite, who pretend that there is a bunch of funny money out there that they can keep giving away, who want to embed 27 different arrangements and who want to see a situation where government school students in Western Australia continue to get a raw deal from the federal government relative to government school students elsewhere in the country, or where Catholic school students in Tasmania get a raw deal relative to Catholic school students elsewhere in the country. We want to ensure they are all treated fairly, equally and consistently by the Australian government as Australian school students, regardless of the state boundaries that exist. That is what our proposal seeks to do. Of course, we have the situation, as I have said, with the AEU starting to splinter. Indeed, the Grattan Institute has described the official AEU position as being a bizarre position of arguing for less money for government schools. That, of course, would be the effect if the AEU got their way. I just hope that the AEU and the Labor Party change their minds and get on board with the proper reform. (Time expired)