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

Senator Dastyari needs to recognise and realise that we have record levels of investment in Australian schools at present and that the Commonwealth's contribution to that investment is at the highest level ever, and yet we have seen—as I said in the previous answers—performance slipping. That is why we are asking the question of how you can boost performance.

Those opposite have plans where they promise they are going to put much more money in than we are proposing to put in. I acknowledge that. Everybody is committed to a trajectory of growth for school funding, but those opposite want to spend sums of money that they do not know how they will pay for. As the South Australian Labor Premier has said, 'They have no coherent plan to pay for their promises.' Others, of course, have identified that their funding measures simply worsen the structural deficit over time. That only leaves a worse legacy for those students in our school system, who will inherit higher taxes or greater debt because of the promises of those opposite.