Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will support these amendments. We introduced reforms, as well as additional expenditure, in our landmark response to the original Gonski review. There is no excuse for the minister or the previous ministers to have removed the requirements for states and territories to commit to reforms. They are not red tape, as the former minister, Christopher Pyne, described them at the time; they are fundamental. That is why Labor has opposed the removal of the preamble and the objects in the current act. We cautiously welcome these amendments. We believe that, if the parliament is serious about reform, it will ensure that the act retains its preamble and objects.