Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today.

I would like to commence with Senator Carr’s answer to my question relating to the Queensland state election and standards in Queensland schools. The sad fact is that the literacy and numeracy results of Queensland students are today the worst in this country, by far. The neglect of successive Labor education ministers has been a disaster for the children of Queensland. Ms Bligh herself was education minister for several years.

Just this week Anna Bligh announced $72 million to help tackle this crisis—a crisis, I might add, largely of her and the Labor Party’s making, a crisis she helped to create. Of the $72 million put forward by the government, in fact, only $5 million was from the Queensland state government. Most of the money had to come from the coffers of the federal government—about 90 per cent of it. This is the type of cynical treatment that the Bligh government has shown towards Queensland students—and it is quite ironic, it is cruel and it is pathetic.

Labor have the absolute audacity to describe Queensland as the smart state, but they have done everything they possibly can to dumb it down. Why is it that there is only $5 million left in the state coffers to correct the appalling standards in Queensland schools? I will explain why. Labor have been in power in Queensland for 18 of the last 20 years. After 11 years of economic sunshine the Bligh government has left us with government debt of $74 billion—getting very close to the $96 billion that the previous federal Labor government left this country. That $74 billion state government debt was delivered in times of economic sunshine, I might add. We enjoyed the greatest postwar boom in our nation’s history and still we have $74 billion of government debt. At a time of record mining receipts, we still have $74 billion of debt. At a time of record land and property tax receipts, we still have $74 billion of debt. I might add that, if it were not for the creation of the GST by the Howard-Costello government, it would be far, far worse in Queensland, because this year alone there is $830 million more going into the Queensland state government coffers than would have gone in if we had not had the GST.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Peter Costello.

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Peter Costello. This is $74 billion of government debt in a state—Queensland—where there has been the greatest boom since World War II. With the biggest mining boom and the biggest receipts boom in our state’s history, still there is $74 billion of debt. No wonder the federal opposition is so absolutely scared of what is going to happen to this nation as the Rudd government leads us down the same horrible path.

What has happened? We have dropped our credit rating in Queensland from AAA—we were the first state to get it and we were the first state to lose it—to AA+. What is happening now? Our borrowings are costing more and more. All those infrastructure projects—such as the Gold Coast desalination plant, worth $350 million; the northern pipeline, worth $400 million; and the Traveston dam, worth $500 million—are on hold. Some of them are not worth it, but all of them are on hold. This has been an absolute disaster for the Queensland people. We lost our AAA credit rating. I should add this because it is very important—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor lost the AAA credit rating.

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor lost it; you are quite right. Labor lost the AAA credit rating at a time when we were still in boom. In March last year, 12 months ago, when we were still in boom, Standard and Poor’s warned the Queensland state government that there was a problem. Could they rectify the problem, even in boom times? No, they could not. So how the hell will they look after the state’s finances as we go into recession? The Bligh government has been an absolute disaster for the people of Queensland, and particularly for young students.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the Queensland branch of the Liberal National Party will have to put in a political donations declaration after that blatant political ad from Senator Mason! In case anyone does not know, there is an election campaign going on in Queensland and a number of people on that side think that, by getting up and doing some cheap political advertising, they may help the Liberal National Party. But, like a lot of advertising that we hear from the Liberal National Party, there is no substance; it is just spin. The Senate would be much better served, Senator Mason, if you actually talked about the issues of the day. In case you did not know—and, listening to your speech very carefully, I think you have forgotten once again—there is a global financial crisis happening. The Commonwealth government and, I know, state governments of every colour are trying to come to grips with it and doing their very best to cushion the blow. But the federal government is doing more than anybody else. We are taking the important steps, unlike the opposition, who have simply abandoned Australian workers and the economy. They simply want to have a hands-off approach and say: ‘Let the market rip. Let the jobs go where they may go.’ They take no responsibility for stimulating the economy to save jobs, to cushion the financial impact and to assist Australian working families.

I find it difficult to believe that a senator would get up in this place to do some cheap political advertising when there are far more serious issues to be dealt with. Senator Mason has left the chamber. Where has he gone? I do not know. Maybe he has gone out to do another ad. The ads are endless at the moment. But Australians can rest assured that this government is doing everything within its power to cushion this country from the global economic crisis.

Regarding some of the education issues that Senator Mason wanted to talk about, let me advise the Senate that the Commonwealth is working collaboratively with the states and territories to realise the ambitious shared objectives and outcomes agreed in the National Education Agreement. The National Education Agreement articulates the roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth and the states and territories. It does not impose input controls on how states spend Commonwealth funding, as has historically been the case. Instead, it focuses on the accountability arrangements regarding how states spend this funding according to the needs of the schools and, more importantly, the students. The students are important—the one thing in Senator Mason’s contribution I did agree with is that the students are absolutely important. That is why this government is taking the steps it is, working collaboratively with the states, to make the education of the students foremost.

The Council of Australian Governments also agreed to a series of Smarter Schools national partnerships on 29 November 2008. Between late December 2008 and early January 2009, the Commonwealth held bilateral discussions with each of the states and territories to initiate the development of detailed implementation plans for each national partnership. On 5 February 2009, the Australian government announced the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, including investment of $14.7 billion over three years for the education revolution to fund the building and rebuilding of primary and secondary school infrastructure and maintenance. COAG also agreed to a national partnership agreement in the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, ‘Building prosperity for the future and supporting jobs now’. In addition to that, the Australian government is providing $550 million under the Quality Teaching National Partnership for reforms to attract, train, place, develop and retain quality teachers and school leaders in our classrooms and schools.

These programs are what we do for every student across the country. I know it does not quite suit Senator Mason’s attempt to do the political advertising but this is our government’s commitment to every student, every parent and every school community. We have also provided $1.5 billion over the next seven years to address the needs of disadvantaged schools through the low socioeconomic status schools community national partnerships. And there is much, much more. Unfortunately I would need another hour or so to go through the programs that this government is delivering for students.

Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a shame we do not have another hour to listen to Senator Marshall attempt to explain to us how cooperative federalism works these days. I would particularly like to comment on responses made by Minister Wong and Minister Carr. It is interesting to note in today’s media veiled threats from the Queensland Premier, Ms Bligh, that cooperative federalism may not work quite so well were an LNP government to be elected in Queensland. I was reflecting while Minister Wong was answering Senator Ian Macdonald’s very detailed questions that, if that is what cooperative federalism delivers, perhaps we are better off without it. Look at the fact that cooperative federalism means that the bureaus in Cairns, Townsville, Mount Isa, Mackay and Rockhampton, places currently hit by floods and which have also experienced damage from cyclones, are to have their bureau staff halved. The government can go on as long as they like about halving the staff while saying, ‘But the services will be wonderful.’ Unfortunately, that is not the way it works.

Communities rely on the people in them using the services. If you want to maintain jobs, if you want to keep communities healthy, you maintain the services provided by government in these areas. You only have to look at the other cuts that cooperative federalism has delivered to Queensland—cuts to the CSIRO, cuts to ANSTO, both of which deliver important information services and other services to the state at a time when we need them most.

What else has cooperative federalism given to Queensland? Look at area consultative committees, those vital components in maintaining good community funding and good community structures. Again, thanks to the federal government and to Ms Bligh, cooperative federalism has delivered closure of area consultative committees to Queensland.

Unemployment has risen yet again this month in Queensland, where more than 3,500 people lost their jobs in the last month. That makes it particularly relevant when you look at the questions Senator Mason asked concerning the fall in literacy and numeracy to very poor levels. It is not particularly surprising to realise that, despite the fact that gross state product in Queensland has doubled since the Beattie-Bligh government was elected, the proportion of funding they have spent on education has fallen by three per cent. They can get all the money they like but they cannot even keep the funding for education happening at a level needed to fix the problems, which they go on creating.

The other thing that would not be surprising to hear is that whilst they cannot fund education properly, they have managed to expand the public service in the past 11 years by more than 36 per cent. Year on year, the number of public servants increases in Queensland by the thousands. So we have 82 per cent literacy and numeracy in Queensland compared to a much higher national figure. The government is dropping funding year by year and the Queensland public service is being bloated by the Bligh government at the same time.

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It’s supposed to be the smart state!

Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is: smart at what? No wonder parents are taking children out of Queensland state schools at a massive rate. Now in Queensland, state school parents are voting with their feet. They are worried about the numeracy and literacy problems in the state and they have taken their children away. Only 68.6 per cent of Queensland children go to state schools now. It is coming down all the time. If you look at the disgusting behaviour of Ms Gillard in banning opposition members from state school presentation ceremonies across Australia, you see that this is just a page out of the book of the Minister for Education, Training and the Arts in Queensland, Mr Welford. (Time expired)

David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have been in this place for only a short time, but I imagine I will come to learn that the occasion of a state election is regularly marked by this kind of festival and performance. I am sure that everyone here will appreciate the fact that this is a custom I have not yet seen much of but I am sure I will see a lot more of. Clearly, the occasion of the Queensland election has meant that ‘team Queensland’ from the coalition have wandered in here today to do their very best to elect the unelectable in the north of Australia, and in that effort I wish them no luck whatsoever.

When considering Senator Mason’s ad for the cause of the LNP in Queensland, it did occur to me that it would be appropriate for me to respond by saying that we need to keep Queensland strong with, of course, a Bligh government. When we consider the very serious challenges that Queensland and indeed all of Australia face, we see once again that the coalition have no serious plan, indeed not even terribly useful rhetoric, to bring to the fray.

In the context of a global financial crisis, in the context of a world recession—a synchronised collapse in demand across the whole of the globe—it is time for us to be responsible. I note the headline on the front page of today’s Australian: ‘Unions opt for jobs over pay’. We can see that sense of responsibility pervading all of the body politic, with the noble exception of those opposite. The global financial crisis, while a matter of enormous importance, remains nothing more than an absolute conundrum for those opposite. It remains an issue about which they have no response and no clear plan. While the Rudd Labor government meets the challenge of the global financial crisis, the challenge of falling demand and the challenge of rising unemployment by putting jobs first and by introducing a stimulus package to protect jobs today and sustain domestic demand in critical sectors of the economy, we find those opposite are opposed to these measures. Those opposite are opposed to protecting jobs and they are opposed to all of the measures that we must take, that we are required to take. In their opposition, what do they offer as an alternative? They offer nothing.

The reason those opposite offer nothing is that they have only one plan, and we have seen it again and again and again. Their one plan—whether it be for the financial crisis and our stimulus package, whether it be for Work Choices and our plans to rip it up, whether it be for something like increases in the pension—is Mr Turnbull’s three-step: step 1, support the Labor initiative and wear the flag of bipartisanship; step 2, cast doubt; and, step 3, oppose. That is their plan for every single public policy challenge confronting Australia at this time. We saw that very clearly in question time today, when you referred to our CPRS as jobs destroying. You seek to lecture this government about taking responsibility while you refuse to take responsibility for anything.

Most beautiful to behold is the opposition twitching and turning as it deals with the challenge of the Fair Work Bill 2008. There we see the mask unveiled, the true opposition revealed in all of their glory. That is where we see that, despite Mr Turnbull’s utterances that Work Choices is dead, his brothers and sisters in the Senate are doing their very best to exhume it from the grave, pour electricity into its dead heart and parade it through this place. Every single contribution they have made—whether today or yesterday—has seen the zombie of Work Choices being led through this place. We can hear it in all of their utterances. We can see it in their questions in question time. You have not changed your spots, and you are doing a dreadful impersonation of someone who has. (Time expired)

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very grateful to Senator Feeney because he has reminded us of the global financial crisis. He has tried to make an argument this afternoon that the opposition has failed to appreciate the significance or importance of the global financial crisis. The point is completely otherwise. The reality is that, when the Howard-Costello government was in power, it prudently and carefully managed the nation’s finances. It prudently and carefully managed the nation’s finances to the point where it paid back $96 billion of debt, to the point where on passing over government there was a surplus in the national coffers in the vicinity of $22 billion. That is prudent management of the nation’s finances. We set the new government up. We provided them with the instruments that they needed to properly manage the nation’s financial affairs. What have they done in the short time they have been in office? They have blown it. There was a $10 billion cash splash and they have passed out another $42 billion. All the evidence that we have from economists and others is that this will fail to make any significant impact on the problems we face. As we heard in question time today—from Senator Carr I think it was—it may secure and it may support jobs.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

‘May’!

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It may support jobs. It may secure jobs. But it will not create jobs. What is interesting about this is the analogy with Queensland. For almost the same period of time, 11 years—as Senator Mason pointed out—mountains of money flowed into the Queensland Treasury. There were record receipts from mining royalties. There were record receipts from property taxes of one kind or another. As Senator Mason pointed out, there was a vast amount of money from the GST. There was $8.3 billion in the 2007-08 financial year. No state of the Commonwealth enjoyed such a substantial degree of revenue. Where is it? Unlike the Commonwealth government, unlike the Howard-Costello government during that period of time, the Beattie-Bligh government has left Queenslanders bereft. It has left them without money. It has left them without resources. It is at the point where, as Senator Mason also pointed out, the state now has a $47 billion deficit. As a consequence of that deficit, its credit rating has been downgraded from AAA to AA. On my calculations, that means that Queenslanders in the future will to have to pay—almost into perpetuity—something in the vicinity of $5.1 billion in interest on this debt.

In addition to the approximately $9,000 per capita from the $42 billion Commonwealth debt that Queenslanders are going to have to pay, they are also going to have to pay in the vicinity of $15,000 for the Queensland debt. If you live in Queensland, you will pay $9,000 per head because of the Commonwealth debt, and you will pay another $15,000 approximately because of the state debt run up by the Beattie-Bligh government. What an abject failure that has been. What a disgrace it has been. There is going to be no way to address this debt, because one of the things that the Howard and Costello government was able to do creatively was to privatise some of our key assets. There are no key assets left, and there are certainly no assets in Queensland that might be used for this purpose. It is interesting that Queenslanders will have a $15,000 debt and a $9,000 debt—the highest debt per capita of any state across the country.

Senator Cash, on my calculations, Western Australians have the next highest per capita debt, of $8,000.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Would that be another Labor government?

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That could be a past Labor government. The state government is not a Labor government now, but in the past it was a Labor government. Queensland has the distinction of having the largest debt in the country. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.