Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

This motion on delaying the national curriculum until January 2012 is an attempt by the opposition to help the new minister for schools. We know that the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth feels cornered by the promise that the government made to implement the national curriculum in January 2011. We know that the minister for schools feels particularly cornered because the current Prime Minister was the person who began the process for the implementation of the national curriculum in a serious way over the last three years. We know that with the record for failure of the minister for schools in respect of solar panels, the Green Loans scheme and, of course, the diabolical Home Installation Program he does not want to fumble the ball yet again on a government program like the national curriculum. We know that all these thoughts are coursing through the mind of the minister for schools. So the opposition has decided to reach out and provide the minister for schools with a life rope.

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