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

What Catholic parents understand is that the changes that Minister Birmingham made are not fair. I suggest to Senator Brockman that he have a discussion with former Senator Back, who at least partially understood how these changes disadvantage Catholic schools from his history with the Western Australian Catholic Education Commission board. Unfortunately, unlike former Senator Back, this minister is able to delude his colleagues, as in the talking points we just heard from Senator Brockman—and that is what they are. They are the minister's spin.

The minister spun again in question time today. He misled the Senate and he is misrepresenting David Gonski. He's misrepresenting David Gonski because this minister and this government have single-handedly dismantled the Gonski principles. This minister's principles are not the Gonski principles, and anyone who believes otherwise has been fooled. This minister set up his own creation and what he subsequently told us was, 'Oh, gosh, I upset the Catholics and I don't know why. In retrospect, had I known, I may not have done some of this.' Today, you've got this minister claiming that the School Resourcing Board is doing work that Labor is ignoring. That is simply not true. What Labor said in its letter referred to by Senator Brockman, as we have consistently said since this fabrication of Gonski 2, was that Labor would return the $17 billion to government and non-government schools that this minister has ripped out. We said we would return it and we quantified what that meant for Catholic schools over the next two years. There's no shock in that, and Catholic parents are alive to it because they're the ones who are facing the fee increase as a consequence of what this government has done.

Senator Cormann and the Prime Minister can keep their heads in the sand if they want. But, if they don't get a sense of the con that this minister is running here and if they continue to defend him, then these problems will occur again and again. You will get, like in the story in today's Australian, Catholic school parents who will clearly say, 'Our priorities are our children's education. I might have voted green in the past, but once I understood'—no politicking here; sheer facts—'what changes this government was making and how it impacted on my school, I was prepared to vote for Labor in Batman.' This is not politicking, as Minister Birmingham might pretend; this is responding to facts. This is advocacy and this is fair game because of the unfair changes that this government has made.

Whilst we talk about politicking, boy, has this been the biggest example of projection that I have ever seen. This minister projects by accusing others of politicking, while he reverts, probably through a brain snap that he should apologise for, to cheap sectarianism. He didn't deny it today. All he has said is that he won't apologise, when he should.

In my time here I have not come across this type of cheap sectarianism before. I've been accused of many things myself, but I have not seen a senior political representative refer to another party as Judas Iscariot, and it's outrageous. He should apologise. He should be counselled by the Prime Minister. Senator Cormann should not be defending him, and it should be noted for what it was—that is, Simon Birmingham is starting to run out of spin. The facts are coming forward. The parents are facing the increases in school fees. As Paul Bongiorno highlighted in a piece today—