Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

No, because, as I outlined to the Senate previously, there is record support going to Australian schools at present—record support which will continue to grow year on year on year into the future. Those opposite can try to run scare campaigns if they want, but the facts speak for themselves: that support for schools is at record levels and growing year upon year upon year.

Those opposite also seem to ignore the fact that funding should be treated as a means to an end. They have confused funding as being the end in itself. They think that just promising funding is the answer to education challenges in Australia. But the data shows that, collectively, federal and state governments have been spending record sums on Australian schools over the years and that it has more than doubled in terms of state and federal government spending since 1988. What has happened in that time? What has happened is that Australian outcomes, in terms of literacy standards, numeracy standards and science testing have gone backwards—gone backwards in real terms and gone backwards in relative terms compared to other countries.