Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is it fair that the Prime Minister is cutting $22 billion from schools but can find a spare $50 billion for big business tax cuts?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Mrs Sudmalis interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House; the member for Gilmore—I have not called the Prime Minister, because the Leader of the House and the member for Gilmore are interjecting, as are members on my left.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was hard to hear the Deputy Leader of the Opposition over the gasps of disbelief from her own side when she had the gall to mention $22 billion, because only this morning, after being pushed four times on Adelaide radio to answer whether the Labor Party was committed to its $22 billion commitment for school funding, the member for Port Adelaide said: 'It's not going to be $22 billion necessarily. Between now and the next election we'll be updating all of our funding commitments.' And then of course only a few days ago—six days ago, on 4 May—the deputy leader herself was asked about this. 'Are you still committed to the additional $22 billion over the next decade?' asked David Speers. The deputy leader said, 'Well, we'll have to work out exactly what the figures are as the next election approaches.'

The fact of the matter is that Labor never had the $22 billion when they promised it. It was never there. The fact is that we have fully funded our schools commitments in accordance with the Gonski recommendations: over $18 billion over the next 10 years, going from $17 billion this year to $30 billion 10 years hence. It is fair, it is equitable, it is needs based, it is consistent, and it stands in marked contrast to the patchwork of conflicting secret deals which would have taken 150 years to reach the consistency of the schooling resource standard. So corrupted was the Labor Party's politicisation of the recommendations David Gonski made that they have got an F for education, an F for resourcing schools and an F for integrity when it comes to the future of our children.