Media Release.
13 Dec 2013
The establishment today of the Senate Select Committee on School Funding is necessary to hold the Government to account for its broken promises.
"I welcome the establishment of this committee - it will play a crucial role in exposing the consequences of the Abbott Government dumping their election commitments on schools" Shadow Minister for Education Kate Ellis said.
"This is part of the fight to ensure that the Abbott Government are held to account on their promise that no school will be worse off."
In the lead-up to the election, the Coalition could not have been clearer in their promises to the Australian people:
"We are committed to the student resource standard, of course we are. We are committed to this new school funding model"
- Christopher Pyne, Radio National Breakfast, 30 August 2013
"We have agreed to the government's school funding model"
- Christopher Pyne, Daily Telegraph Education Forum, 29 August 2013
"We will honour the agreements that Labor has entered into. We will match the offers that Labor has made. We will make sure that no school is worse off."
- Tony Abbott, Press Conference, 2 August 2013
"As far as I am concerned, as far as Christopher Pyne is concerned, as far as the coalition is concerned, we want to end the uncertainty by guaranteeing that no school will be worse off"
- Tony Abbott, Press Conference, 2 August 2013
"You can vote Liberal or Labor and you'll get exactly the same about of funding for your school"
- Christopher Pyne, Press Conference, 29 August, 2013
"This committee is only necessary because the Prime Minister has refused to repeat his pre-election promises - he has completely walked away from the needs-based
funding model recommended by the Gonski panel" Kate Ellis said.
"In Parliament last week, the Government admitted States would be free to cut their budgets and abandon reforms - even if they had already struck agreements with the Commonwealth."
"The Prime Minister will not re-commit to all six of the school funding loadings that were at the heart of the Gonski recommendations: for students with disability, Indigenous students, small schools, remote schools, students with limited English and disadvantaged students."
"The Government has refused to guarantee that money will actually reach the schools that need it most."
The Select Committee will inquire into the secret 'no strings' funding deals the Government announced it had brokered with States last week, including the consequences of trashing agreements about State funding indexation and co-contributions, which Labor put in place to put an end to education cuts once and for all.
"The Abbott Government cannot claim to be serious about school reform until it commits to match Labor's funding over six years, and our Gonski reforms" Kate Ellis said.
"If the Government continues in its refusal to honour its election promises, our most disadvantaged children will pay the price."
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