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

If Senator Dastyari had listened to my first answer, he would have heard me say that some schools are doing much better. Equally, some schools are getting record funding but their performance is slipping. What the evidence of the NAPLAN results released most recently demonstrates, and almost every other analysis that is undertaken, is that it is how you use the funding that matters most, and that is what we need to focus on.

That is why last Friday I was pleased to be speaking to a group of highly accomplished lead teachers because we are supporting the professional development of teachers, the development of their expertise and the development of leadership in schools. Those capabilities allow them to use the record funding that is available in the most effective way possible. That is what we should be doing across the board in our education debate. You seem completely fixated on the inputs. We on this side care about student outcomes.