Labor spends more on Gonski ads than on School funding

After months of Labor promising sweeping school funding changes, reports today suggest only 4 per cent of the new education spending will occur next year meaning in some States Labor will be spending more on their taxpayer funded advertising campaign. “If Federal Labor will pay only 4 per cent of the total new education spending next year then in some States the new funding could be as low as $12 million,” said the Shadow Minister for Education, Christopher Pyne. “At the same time, Labor is spending $50 million of taxpayers’ money in three months promoting their school funding changes – Labor will spend more on their advertising campaign in three months than some States will receive for schools in the first year. “This is a deeply cynical exercise from a Government that has lost control of the Budget and has once again built up unrealistic expectations. “The Gonski Review said an additional $5 billion a year was needed to implement the recommendations. This was revised up by the Prime Minister herself in a speech in September 2012 to $6.5 billion a year. “Over six years this would be $39 billion in new spending. Labor has only committed a fraction of this with the Commonwealth’s share being around $9.4 billion over six years. “This funding is coming from cuts to universities, cuts to apprenticeships and other cuts to schools totalling $11 billion. “Spending more on the advertising campaign than on schools just shows how desperate and out of touch Labor has become,” Mr Pyne said. May 8, 2013