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

As I indicated before, the indicative figures in last year's budget were clearly specific as indicative only. Were, of course, I to accept the premise of your question, that would make a mockery of the claims each and every one of your colleagues seem to make. They do not want to use last year's budget as the basis upon which to acknowledge there is growth everywhere else across the country. Indeed, it seems as if you want to pick one set of figures completely different from the set of figures all of your other colleagues want to use. I highlight here that Western Australia is the biggest winner out of these reforms with the fastest rate of growth. Unlike anything that would ever have been achieved under the Gillard government deals, we are guaranteeing that Western Australia will receive a fair share of funding for its school students rather than being penalised for the fact that Western Australian governments have invested more in their schools than some in other states do.