Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Xenophon. You have not been here the whole time that I have been making this point, but I am happy to be very brief on it. The point is that, yes, we agree with the sentiment here—that a body like this is required to take the politics out of this process—but at the same time I am making the point that a body such as this can help us understand the impact that this government is not providing. The impact that the minister is not providing is, for example, the increase for a school on an SES score of 101—a primary school—which is estimated at 13.5 per cent, as is currently the case, and rising to 17.9 per cent. These are the Catholic systemic schools. They are on an average of 101, but the crossbench has been hoodwinked that the minister's changes fix the problem. They do not. There is roughly a five per cent increase in the estimate of what fees parents should pay.