House debates
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Questions without Notice
Schools
2:06 pm
Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Prime Minister. I have a document from the Prime Minister's own office which states that the government's schools policy is a $22 billion cut compared to Labor's policy. Does the Prime Minister deny that his own office knew it was a $22 billion cut, wrote that it was a $22 billion cut, told journalists it was a $22 billion cut? When will the Prime Minister stop misleading the Australian people and finally say aloud that his schools policy is a $22 billion cut?
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
What we have heard from this captain of fantasy is yet another claim to billions of dollars that he never, ever had—fantasy money! What could be less fair than promising resources that you cannot pay for, promising the NDIS but not being prepared to pay for it? What could be less fair than promising a needs based school-funding system and delivering—or threatening to deliver—exactly the reverse, promising fairness and transparency and delivering 27 separate deals? Fairness is not the long suit of the Leader of the Opposition—neither is consistency; neither is any commitment to equity.
We talk about fairness. What could be less fair than the '14 minutes of torture' the Leader of the Opposition delivered to his own caucus today? He is a cross between Fidel Castro and Kevin Rudd! He went on and on and on for 14 minutes of torture to his unfortunate crew. It only came to an end when it was interrupted by repeated snores and the dull thud of members of the Labor Party falling out of their chairs asleep!
The Leader of the Opposition can go on about fairness. He has failed to deliver a policy of any consistency, of any equity. Right across the board, Labor have abandoned all the things they said they stand for.
Ms Rowland interjecting—
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
They have abandoned needs based funding completely.
Ms Rowland interjecting—
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
They have abandoned funding the NDIS. They talk about jobs and they want to jack up the tax on small and medium businesses. They talk about their commitment to employment and opportunities, and at every turn they want to crush business with higher taxes and fewer incentives.
Our commitment is to deliver fairness with the NDIS. We have made the promise. And we have all made the promise—it was a bipartisan commitment—so now let's pay for it. We have said there should be needs based funding. Let's deliver it—clearly, transparently. And Labor ran around for years claiming they were delivering a Gonski model; they were not; it was a corruption of Gonski, as Ken Boston said. We are delivering it. Our budget is fair, transparent and consistent. Labor has failed. This desperate Leader of the Opposition can bore his caucus for as long as he likes—or for as long as they will endure him—but he will not persuade the Australian people he is anything other than a fraud. (Time expired)
Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for—I could not quite see with the Leader of the Opposition standing. Before I recognise him, the level of interjections again is ridiculously high. Members will be ejected—
Mr Husic interjecting—
The member for Chifley will not interject while I am addressing the House! It might be good if he just stayed still and kept his mouth shut for a bit. The Leader of the Opposition?
Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I seek leave to table the Prime Minister's document which shows it is a cut of $22 billion to schools over 10 years.
Leave not granted.
2:10 pm
Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government is delivering record school funding that is genuinely needs based? Is the Prime Minister aware of any alternative—
Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Tangney will resume his seat.
Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—
The member for Goldstein! I am not recognising the Prime Minister yet. I have not been able to hear the member's question. The member for Goldstein will cease interjecting. The member for Moreton will repeat his question—
Honourable members interjecting—
Sorry. Mr Morton, the member for Tangney, will repeat his question.
Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government is delivering record school funding that is genuinely needs based? Is the Prime Minister aware of any alternatives?
2:11 pm
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I thank the honourable member for his question. There are 47 primary and secondary schools and more than 27,000 students in the honourable member's electorate of Tangney that will benefit from my government's record investment in Australian schools.
We have heard the Leader of the Opposition ranting and raving about school funding. He has been exposed as a phony and a fake. He has been exposed as the author of 27 secret deals, the terms of which he is not prepared to disclose.
Our school funding model is transparent and needs based. It means that schools with the same needs gets the same funding. Isn't that what needs-based funding is about?
Ms Plibersek interjecting—
The member for Sydney says it is not. Right, okay.
Mr Khalil interjecting—
Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Wills will cease interjecting and is warned!
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Sydney is trying to lead us into her parallel universe where needs-based funding does not mean schools with the same needs get the same funding.
Mr Khalil interjecting—
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I wonder, in Labor's parallel universe of fakery and fraud, who gets more money? I guess it is determined on political grounds. That would have to be it. It is not a matter of science; it is a matter of political science. It is not a matter of educational needs; it is a matter of political needs. That is why Ken Boston, as I noted earlier, a distinguished and respected educationalist, described Labor's mishmash of failed, unfunded policies as a corruption—his words, not mine—of Gonski's model.
We know that under Labor's model a needy student with special needs in one state could get $1,500 less than a student with exactly the same needs in another state. The inconsistency, the injustice! No fairness. It is not needs based, unless one uses the member for Sydney's dictionary, in which things mean the opposite of what they ought to mean. This is literally black meaning white. That is what she is saying. That is what Labor is saying.
They had the opportunity to implement a consistent needs-based funding model. We are doing it, and we are spending $18.6 billion—additional money—over the decade. Every year we are spending that money. At the end of the decade—
Ms Butler interjecting
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
it will be $18.6 billion more than it was at the beginning. We are making that commitment to schools. We are doing it on the basis of need, and we are doing it honestly and transparently. (Time expired)
2:14 pm
Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
( ) ( ): My question is to the Prime Minister. Public school principals have travelled to be here in Canberra today. How can the Prime Minister claim that his school funding model is sector blind, when Lauriston Girls' School in Melbourne, with fees for primary school of up to $27,000 per year, gets seven times the funding increase of Anula Primary School in Darwin? How is that fair to the kids at public schools like Anula Primary?
Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The Leader of the House will cease interjecting. Members on both sides will cease interjecting. Before I call the Prime Minister: this level of interjections will not continue. I will take severe action, and members, if they continue, should not expect to be warned. The Prime Minister has the call.
2:16 pm
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The honourable member would be well aware that under the government's school funding policy—and, indeed, consistently with the practice of federal governments for many years—the federal government is the largest government funder of non-government schools, and of course state and territory governments are the largest funder of the schools that they own and operate. So the comparison the honourable member makes is completely inapt, totally inapt.
The position is that, under our model, by 2027, with all these systems getting different levels of funding at the moment—a system we inherited from the Labor Party—government schools, wherever they are in Australia, will receive 20 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard from the Commonwealth. And they will receive that whether they are in the Northern Territory or whether they are in Victoria or Tasmania.
Ms Claydon interjecting—
Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Newcastle will leave under 94(a).
The member for Newcastle then left the chamber.
Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
And non-government schools will receive 80 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard, which is adjusted by reference to the SES formula that determines the community's capacity to pay—again, consistent with past practice. It is fair; it is transparent.
What Labor have is a mishmash of promises—inconsistent, incoherent, not transparent. Ours is fair, it is needs based and it involves $18.6 billion more spending during that time. It is a commitment of $18.6 billion over the forward estimates, rising from $17 billion a year now to over $30 billion in 2027. It is a massive increase in funding, and it is needs based, sector blind and transparent—that is the difference—as endorsed, as recommended, by David Gonski. The Labor Party sought to canonise David Gonski, but then they corrupted his vision. We are delivering more money, fairly, transparently and needs based.