Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Allman-Payne. I actually just made the very point that you are making in my previous answer, when I pointed out that educational disadvantage does exist even more greatly in particular parts of the community, whether it be students from poor backgrounds, First Nations students or remote location students, for example. That is exactly why we need to see more funding provided to our schools, in particular our public schools. That's exactly why the Albanese government is doing that through our Better and Fairer Schools Agreement.

I would imagine, Senator Allman-Payne and all of your colleagues—given how much you say you care about funding for public schools—that you would support our Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which is providing $16 billion in additional funding for public schools. Or will this be another example where we see the Greens get up and lecture us about how we should do more on this or that and then not support what we're doing? On housing, you say we should do more; you vote against it. On education, you say we should do more; you're probably going to vote against it. You are total hypocrites, and we're not going to take your advice. (Time expired)