Cycle of reviews adds to uncertainty

After five years Labor’s plan for education is a review into a review, Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education said today.

“For five years in Opposition and Government Labor promised to review the existing SES model, two years ago the review began and the Government has had the final report for three months,” Mr Pyne said.

“Releasing the review on Monday, built up to be a groundbreaking change in funding, the Gillard Government responded by announcing more reviews, consultation, meetings and working groups,” he said. 

“This is not a policy, it is a farce. Schools need certainty, but the Government is only offering uncertainty and unanswered questions for months and months to come.  

Today the Schools Minister’s non-existent timetable to introduce a policy suffered a blow from West Australian Premier Colin Barnett who has raised genuine concerns over whether the Gillard Government wants to nationalise education.

“Big new bureaucracies and nationalising funding is exactly the opposite of what should be occurring. More power should be in the hands of those at the coal-face of education, not the other way around.

“Meanwhile, Mr Garrett still cannot explain away that the reference in the Gonski report to an individual parent’s ‘capacity to pay’ is a means test on parents of students in non-government schools.

“Neither has Mr Garrett stopped his obfuscating and guaranteed indexation at current levels - that means every non-government school remains on Labor’s private school hit-list,” Mr Pyne said. 

February 22, 2012