Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

These cuts by Liberal-National state governments reflect the same agenda that the Liberal Party took to the last federal election, which represented the Howard government's record: failure to invest in higher education and failure to invest in vocational education. We know where their black hole will be funded from: out of education. When the Gonski report was released their leader, Mr Abbott, said: 'Public don't need any more money. We don't support this, because public schools don't need any more money to support a lift in educational standards.' We are seeing the VET system in this country ruined by state governments, and where are the National Party? When there are campus closures in rural and regional Australia and kids denied educational opportunities, we hear nothing from them. In fact, the Victorian and New South Wales ministers are Nats, and they are closing campuses and reducing opportunities for kids in rural areas. This Liberal-National agenda is— (Time expired)