Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Mason, it is sad to see you attempt to carry out a stunt. You say you do not question the genuineness of the Prime Minister's commitment to education, yet you throw lines out about the government supposedly 'throwing' $16 billion at education. You know better than that.

You have asked for more time to deal with this legislation, yet, as I pointed out when we set up the time management motion, this bill has had a lengthy and detailed gestation. You might argue about the limitations on parliamentary time, yet the only person in Senate estimates asking questions about the amendments which were before us at that time was Senator McKenzie. The coalition did not use estimates time to deal with these issues. The amendments may not have been there earlier in the week, Senator Mason, but you had more than adequate time. You did not use estimates time to ask questions related to these measures.

I have already made the point about the necessity for time management. We did a calculation of how many bills we would have progressed in the last two sessions without time management. The answer was a dismal 12. That is how much work would occur without time management being utilised to deal with critical and important legislation—and this bill is. Indexation at the moment is 3.9 per cent. Next year it will drop to three per cent. Christopher Pyne might think he can delude people about these facts, but you know better, Senator Mason. You know that the AGSRC this year is 3.9 per cent. You know that. You know it is not six per cent and you know it is not 5.6 per cent; you know it is 3.9.

So how can you tell—