Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, Senator Kim Carr. Can the minister inform the Senate of the nature of the government's investments in Australia's public schools?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question and I acknowledge her longstanding expertise in education. The government is very proud of the money it has invested in schools, whether they be public, private or catholic. As I have already indicated, on our watch investment has doubled. What we are seeing now, if you look at table 2.5 in Budget Paper No. 3, is that in the next four years the government will provide an estimated $20.9 billion to state governments to support state education services in government schools. Of that, $17.8 billion will go to government schools under the national schools special-purpose payments.

I specifically draw the Senate's attention to the fact that we are providing $1.5 billion to lift the performances of the most disadvantaged schools in the Commonwealth. We are investing record levels in all public schools. And this is at the moment—that is, before the Gonski response has been implemented. There are nearly 2.3 million Australian children in those schools—two-thirds of the children of this generation.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tell us about the class war and the hit list.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Lord Brandis, you ought to know something about class war when it comes to education.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Carr, you will refer to another senator by their correct title.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sure, when Senator Brandis lines up the support for Mr Abbott's cuts to public education he will recognise that 85 per cent of Indigenous children attend public schools; 83 per cent of children from remote and regional areas attend public schools; 80 per cent of students from the lowest income brackets attend public schools; and 78 per cent of students with a disability attend public schools. These are the people you are attacking when you say there is an injustice in the level of support for public education. (Time expired)

Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. How does the government respond to concerns that students in public schools get more than their fair share?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Abbott said yesterday:

So there is no question of injustice to public schools here. If anything, the injustice is the other way.

He made the statement that we are, in fact, providing an injustice when we talk about public education support at this moment. This is a position that would seriously weaken public education in rural and regional Australia. This is a position that would seriously undermine the capacity of this country to remain at the level of equality we have provided. I ask a simple question: of the $17.8 billion for special-purpose payments to the states, how much would be cut to provide justice under a Liberal government?

Which schools would be cut? Which groups of disadvantaged Australians would miss out as a result of the policies of Mr Abbott, if they were ever implemented? Because that is the proposition he is advancing. There is an injustice in the level of support that he wants to right and that means cuts. (Time expired)

Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a supplementary question. Is the government confident that its investments can be justified in the context of a tough fiscal climate?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor point of view is that there can be no higher priority than spending on education. This is the basic premise on which we operate. What we say is you do not take money off the poor to give to the rich. We actually say that every Australian is entitled to a fair go. What we have seen, for instance in Victoria where there is a Liberal government—a real example of real action—is that 3,600 staff have been cut from the public service, 550 from the education department with $19 million cut from schools and staff bonuses for struggling families. In Victoria some $300 million has been cut from TAFE funding.

In Queensland we have seen a similar pattern where the Premier of that state argues that there should be 20,000 fewer public servants. He has already got rid of 7,000 of them. We know what Jeff Kennett's attitude is from when he said that all state budgets need to be 'savaged'—that was the word he used. (Time expired)