David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to express support for Senator Bernardi's amendment to limit the appropriation provided by the Australian Education Act to 2021. It is such a good amendment, I wish I had thought of it myself. It is a modest amendment. It does nothing to alter the architecture of school funding. It is neither a Labor-friendly amendment nor a Liberal-friendly amendment. It simply prevents this parliament from binding the next one and the one after that.

If the amendment passes, school funding in 2022 and later years would require an appropriation. This could come through appropriation bills which are introduced at budget time and at the time of the mid-year budget update and which are routinely waived through parliament. Or the appropriation could come through amending the Australian Education Act closer to 2022 so that it provides some further years of appropriation. This is procedural best practice. It is how democracy should work, and it is a template that should be applied to every other statute that currently provides an enduring appropriation. If this were done, the government of the day, be it Labor or Liberal, would have a chance of balancing the budget. I commend the amendment to the Senate.