Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister Representing the Minister for Education. I refer to the Abbott government's decision to break its pre-election promise and rip at least $1.2 billion out of New South Wales education funding. Does the minister agree with the assessment by the New South Wales education minister, Adrian Piccoli, that 'schools in regional areas, as well as disadvantaged and Aboriginal students, will be the hardest hit'?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Stephens for her question. If one wanted to talk about money being removed from schools funding in Australia, I think the best place to start would be the removal of $1.2 billion from schools funding by the previous government when they failed to reach agreement with all the states and territories. That would have meant there was no additional funding for students in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory—a small technical point that it appears those on the other side are trying to avoid. What is in fact the case with our education announcements in the budget is that we are investing a record amount of $64½ billion in recurrent funding for government and non-government schools over the next four years. The coalition has not only matched school funding dollar for dollar over the quadrennium of the previous government but increased it. That includes $1.2 billion for schools, from 2014 to 2017, over and above the funding committed by the previous government.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on relevance: the question referred to a statement by the New South Wales education minister about concerns about $1.2 billion out of the current New South Wales budget.

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

There is no point of order at this stage. The minister still has 55 seconds remaining.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, we ensured that students in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not miss out. That of course means—QED, I would have to say—that students in New South Wales were in a good position, the position that was committed to by the previous government. The position now sees the other states and territories—which were not included by the previous government;, and $1.2 billion was removed from that funding—on an equal footing with states like New South Wales, South Australia and so on. That is the most important aspect of our funding program—to ensure that we are increasing funding, which we are, by a record amount of $64.5 billion in recurrent funding for government and non-government schools over the next four years.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister. I am disappointed that she did not actually answer my question, which is: does the minister agree with the assessment by the New South Wales education minister, Adrian Piccoli, that schools in regional areas, as well as disadvantaged and Aboriginal students, will be the hardest hit by this cut?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Stephens for her supplementary question. I think it is very important for the chamber and those opposite to recognise that schools in Australia, no matter what state or territory we are talking about, have not been short-changed. We have met our commitment to provide funding certainty over the next four years from 2014 to 2017. As I said in my previous response, this is $1.2 billion more than schools would have received under the previous government. That is a convenient omission that they continue to make.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on relevance: this is the second occasion on which this minister has been specifically asked whether she agrees with the assessment by her colleague Minister Piccoli that schools in regional areas, as well as disadvantaged and Aboriginal students, will be the hardest hit. That is the only question that she was asked in the first supplementary. She has not come close to that question. I ask her to return to the subject matter, which she is trying to avoid, about which she was asked.

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

There is no point of order at this stage. I am listening closely to the minister's answer. The minister still has 21 seconds.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I think, if we reflect on the remarks I made previously, we will see that I made it very clear that schools in Australia have not been short-changed. That is an answer to the senator's question.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer to the New South Wales Nationals conference last weekend, where delegates called on the federal government to reverse its cuts and fund, as promised, the Gonski package for the full six years. I ask: won't cutting funding for regional schools for learning support for children with special needs and Indigenous students force up the costs of regional university courses and hurt people in Regional Australia?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me refer initially to funding for students with a disability—students with special needs, in large part. The Australian government has already introduced a funding loading to support students with a disability, which began this year, 2014. It has provided for students with a disability, no matter where they live or where they go to school, so an assertion that students in regional areas with special needs are somehow disadvantaged by those opposite's interpretation of the government's budget measures is in fact fallacious and should be rejected. It is a scare tactic. It is not going to work, because it is simply not true. That is the bottom line. Those opposite do not want to think about the truth or utter the truth; they wanted to avoid the question.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not true. We have budgeted $4.8 billion for students within this budget.

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Senator Payne, resume your seat. You are entitled to be heard in silence. Order, on my left.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is disappointing that, having asked the question and having some opportunity to hear an explanation of the funding that is being distributed to students with a disability— (Time expired)