Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak on this matter of public importance on the Turnbull government's broken promise on school funding. I know the government senators do not like to be reminded of what happened prior to the last election. I know they do not like to be reminded that they said that there would be no cuts to education. I know they do not like to be reminded that they also said that they would match Labor on education funding dollar for dollar. They also said, famously, that they were on a unity ticket with Gonski funding. That is the reality; that is the truth of what we are talking about here today.

It really saddens me that the government senators, including Senator McKenzie, have stood up in their contributions and tried to say that this government is actually increasing education funding. It is absolutely a falsehood to assert that. It is absolutely wrong. We only have to look at the New South Wales state minister, who is up in arms about the cuts that have been levelled at his state. We only have to look at my home state of Tasmania, where the state minister is also crying out about the funding cuts to investment in education. That is what is happening. If we look at Tasmania, $660 million has been cut from schools in Tasmania. These are the facts. It does not matter how loud you carp on or shout about what you say you are doing in government, you have, with this new funding arrangement, cut $29 billion from the commitment you gave that there would be no cuts to education, and that you would match Labor dollar for dollar. Quite frankly, I think you knew from the very outset, when you said it in the election campaign, that you were never going to meet it. You had no intention of ever meeting that.

And then we have Mr Turnbull, who does not even want to put any money into public education. It is an absolute disgrace. The policy you put together on education is an absolute disgrace. Of course, we have heard in the contributions from this side that this is seen as a bandaid measure to get those opposite through the election. I would like to say that you are better than that, but, actually, you are not. It took a moment's notice for you to go back on your commitment during the last election, and this time around you have cobbled something together that is not about investment in our schools. It is not about investment in our children and it is not about investment in our teachers; it is about getting you past the next federal election. The mums and dads out there are not going to fall for it. They know that you committed to Gonski. They know that this policy is a short-term political fix.

Senator McKenzie talked about investment in literacy and numeracy, which really galled me. She could not be further from the truth about what their policy is. It is not about investment in literacy and numeracy. The Labor Party policy is an investment. It will mean more classroom support for students, it will mean early intervention programs in schools, it will mean additional literacy and numeracy programs and it will mean that teachers get the resources and tools to better track student achievement.

And we need this. This is what we need: we need to enable our children with this investment so they are able to have every opportunity to achieve. What we have from the government is a mean-spirited, short-term fix to get them through an election. It is a disgrace, and they should be ashamed.