House debates Questions without Notice
Education Funding
Kate Ellis Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education
2:48 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's decision to cut $1 billion from trades training centres and cancel all future centres. Given that the Prime Minister promised no cuts to education before the election, what other cuts is the Prime Minister hiding from voters in Western Australia in its secret Commission of Audit Report?
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
Labor promised 2,650 trades training centres but delivered less than 10 per cent of them. That is almost as bad as the former Minister for Health's performance when it comes to superclinics. When it comes to incompetence they are all of a piece.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. In the last parliament, the relevance rule was changed to 'direct relevance'. There has to be a meaning given to the insertion of the word 'direct'. The Prime Minister cannot in any way be seen as being directly relevant to the question he was asked.
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Prime Minister will return to the question.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
We are putting $1.2 billion back into schools funding that members opposite cut out of it in their pre-election fiscal outlook statement, and we are paying for it by not proceeding with a Labor campaign commitment.