Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has done no such thing. As the minister for education has made clear again and again in this parliament over the last few days, every year school education goes up and up. It goes up eight per cent this year, it goes up eight per cent next year, it goes up six per cent the year after that and it goes up four per cent in the final year of the forward estimates. It is true that the former Rudd-Gillard government made a whole lot of pie-in-the-sky promises that were never funded, that were never in the budget forward estimates and that could never be paid for. Going into the 2013 election, this government made it absolutely crystal clear that we supported the commitments that the former government had made for the then forward estimates only.

Mr Husic interjecting—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And we made no guarantees whatsoever beyond the forward estimates except this: that we would ensure that we had the best possible public schools and public hospitals. But unlike members opposite, we do not think that it is all about money. That is the problem with members opposite. They think that it is only about money.

Ms O'Neil interjecting—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They think that money is the answer to every problem. And because members opposite think that money is the answer to every problem, they were driving this country into an unsustainable budget situation. They were saddling our children and our grandchildren with unsustainable debt. It was intergenerational theft that they were practicing against our country's future. We will not do that. Not for a second will we do that. We will deliver better schools and public hospitals, but we will do it not just with more money—although there will be more money. We will do it through better structures. We will do it through independent public schools. We will do it through community controlled public hospitals. We are absolutely committed to better public schools and better public hospitals. Unlike members opposite, we will do it in a sustainable way. I have one final point I want to make in response to the member for Newcastle.

An opposition member: This will be deep.

It may not be deep, but it will be important. If the member seriously believes that somehow public schools have been short-changed by $30 billion, she must insist that her leader put that money back and not fob her off with lies, the way he treated Neil Mitchell.