Prime Minister’s policy on the run

The Prime Minister has been caught making up education policy on the run. On Sunday April 14 2013 the Prime Minister announced that Catholic schools would receive an additional $1.4 billion over six years as part of the new education funding model. “This offer represented only about 10 per cent of Government funding and would have been far less than the current total funding received by the sector of around 16.8 per cent of total Government funding,” said Shadow Minister for Education Christopher Pyne MP. “The decrease in funding was met with protests from the Catholic Education sector with the Prime Minister later in the week making another offer to re-instate the level of funding to its current level of 16.8 per cent,” said Mr Pyne. “Yet, the Education Minister, Mr. Peter Garrett has said that the government isn't planning to stump up any more cash than what is in the package. “We are not proposing to provide additional investment at this point in time. Neither should we”. The Australian 19 April 2013 “The Prime Minister must explain if there is no more cash in this package, where did the extra funds for the Catholic sector come from? “How she can make such a commitment when Labor's proposed funding model doesn’t include a funding formula of 16.8 per cent to Catholic schools? “Catholic schools in Australia operate on the least amount of resources, on average with 10 per cent fewer resources than those available to Government schools. “How can the Premiers or various education authorities have any confidence in what the Prime Minister says when she and the Education Minister are making up policy on the run”. April 19 2013