Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Pratt for her question in relation to school results. If I can take one of the interjections from before, I'm sure that Senator Bernardi would concur that the results of the PISA survey are very disappointing, are unacceptable, and that we do need to see that results in relation to education improve across the country. Our children deserve world-leading education, giving them skills to thrive, and they deserve strong literacy, maths and science skills fundamental to their success.

Senator O'Neill interjecting—

I'll take Senator O'Neill's interjection there about funding, because that is, of course, where the Labor Party inevitably go in relation to funding. As this chamber has debated endlessly over the years and is well known, school funding in Australia stands at record levels. The debate that must be had in Australia is about how we get better results from the record investment that is occurring. Let me quote from The Australian Financial Review today in which the education writer states that—