Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley would be well advised to do his homework, because the reality is there are no reductions in education spending in schools in this budget, or last year's budget, or any other budget into the future brought down by this government. School funding goes up every year, on year, for the next four years—eight per cent, eight per cent, six per cent and four per cent. I know it is very hard for Labor. Labor have not done the work in opposition to recalibrate their policy positions. It is sad that they are still just talking about the last election. They were still talking about it last night on The Killing Season. Like a narcissistic obsessive disorder, they are constantly talking about themselves and they are still talking about the last election and the policies from the last election.

The member for Lindsay is a much better member for Western Sydney than the member for Chifley, and the people who live in Mount Druitt probably much prefer to be represented by the member for Lindsay than the member for Chifley—but I digress. The truth is there is a massive increase in spending on school education, and Labor knows it. What the member for Chifley has not caught up with is that his party has not committed to the extra money in years five and six, beyond the forward estimates and beyond the current school agreement.

They have not committed to it. Bill Shorten has not committed to it. Chris Bowen has not committed to it. Kate Ellis has not committed to it. Mark Butler has not committed to it. I would recommend to the member for Chifley that he go back and look at Mark Butler's comments last week, or the week before, in The Australian, where the Labor states and territories and the Australian Education Union asked the federal Labor party whether they were committed to the billions of dollars of extra spending that they have not got the money for. Mr Butler obfuscated and did not answer the question—exactly as Mr Shorten did on the Neil Mitchell program. Chris Bowen has done the same thing, because Labor know they do not have the money.

Labor know that they already have a $58 billion black hole in their economic credibility going forward. They know that. They are going to apparently bring $15 billion of extra spending on foreign aid back if they get re-elected. They apparently have rivers of gold to knock off our savings measures and to vote against their own savings measures in the budget from when they were in government. They think that there is somehow a magic pudding of money out there, but the Australian public is much wiser than that.

Let me just tell the member for Chifley exactly what is happening. There is $69.5 billion, over the forward estimates, of funding to schools. It is a growth of 27.9 per cent on the 2014-15 baseline. A growth of 27.9 per cent is not a cut; it is not a reduction. It means an increase in spending.

Mr Husic interjecting—

It means an increase in spending, no matter how much the member for Chifley interjects. A 27.9 per cent increase means there is more money for schools in the budget this year, next year and the year after that than there was in previous years.

That is why schools are focusing, as is the government, on the other elements that make a quality education—for example, school autonomy, which New South Wales has definitely signed up to, just like Western Australia and Queensland, and all the other states and territories have signed up to. It is why they support our reforms to teacher training at university, because the OECD says the most important element in Australia about whether a child gets a good outcome is the quality of teaching.

The member for Chifley should stop following the line of the AEU and actually start listening to what parents say. What parents say and what parents want is quality teaching in their schools. They want a robust curriculum. They want to be engaged in their schools and they want their principals and their leadership teams to make as many decisions as possible locally. That is what we are delivering. We have decluttered the primary school curriculum. We have refocused the curriculum on science, maths and English.

Opposition members interjecting—

We have actually; you have not caught up with it. ACARA is now working on it, to start on 1 January 2016. There will be a new national curriculum on 1 January 2016, initiated by this government and agreed to by every state and territory. We have also reformed teacher training, have a parental engagement program and independent public schools across Australia.

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