Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table documents relating to orders for the production of documents concerning the Murray-Darling Basin, students with disability loadings settings and school funding.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

The Greens don't accept the government's public interest immunity claim on documents relating to disability loadings and the funding negotiations with the Western Australian government. The negotiations on the new funding arrangements are happening behind closed doors, and after over a decade of waiting for full funding for our schools, the public has a right to know about the negotiations that are happening between state and federal governments. We think that the Australian people have a right to know the basis on which the future of public school funding in this country is being decided. Labor's track record on public school funding isn't anything to be proud of. Gillard's 'no worse off' comments, which were made very soon after the Gonski report was delivered, essentially meant capitulating to the private school lobby, nobbling Gonski from the get-go.

The deal with the WA government doesn't fill us with confidence. At the moment, as far as we understand—certainly, in the opinion of the WA Labor government—it includes the four per cent dodgy accounting tricks which enable the state of WA to count things like transporting kids to school on buses, capital depreciation of buildings and the funding of teacher registration bodies in their Gonski funding. That's four per cent of funding that will not go to students in classrooms and that is desperately needed in public schools. In estimates, the Minister representing the Minister for Education would not commit to the government removing this four per cent loophole, and on Insiders yesterday the minister dodged the question. The so-called deal with WA, if it's rolled out nationally—which is what the minister has said he wants to do—would lock in underfunding for another generation of public school kids. If the four per cent loophole remains, we will only get to 96 per cent. That's 96 per cent of the money required to get only four-fifths of kids above the minimum standard.

Before the election, Labor promised on multiple occasions that they would end Morrison's dodgy accounting trickery. If they're going to end it, why won't they come out and say that now, and why won't they show us the documents? If they're now planning to backtrack on that promise, the parliament and the Australian people deserve to know. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.