3AW

E&OE................................

Journalist: Christopher, thanks for your time.

Hon Christopher Pyne MP: Good morning.

Journalist: Those numbers, of up to $18.5 billion, have you had those confirmed this morning as yet?

Pyne: Well it’s not exactly clear yet the final number but from what we can gather, it is clear that there is $14.5 billion of promises being made.  You need to offset that against the $11 billion of cuts that the Government has already announced in the last six to twelve months. So in fact this is not a Gonski response it is a Conski.  It is not a Gonski, it is a Conski.

Journalist: So Mr Pyne, are you concerned that they have announced yesterday that partially to pay for this they are going to cut back $2.8 billion from university funding which to me is you know the old fashioned robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Pyne: Well they are robbing Peter to pay Paul.  They are robbing future aspirations of young Australians to go to university to meet a 150 day political expediency for the next election.  What they are announcing in terms of school funding today is a re-election plan, not an education plan.  Because if you boil it down, if you take away all their cuts and redirections and their smoke and mirrors tricks, they are putting $600 million dollars of new money in a year over the next six years.  Now the Gonski model suggested $6.5 billion dollars a year which means that they are delivering one tenth of that so this is a massive disappointment to people who had expected the Government to have a genuine response to the Gonski report.  But they are in this position because all they have delivered is deficit and debt for the last six years and they don’t have any money in the cupboard.

Journalist: Well Mr Pyne will the Coalition then pay that billion dollars a year, and will you also wind back the cuts in tertiary education?

Pyne: Well let’s see how the Council of Australian Governments goes on Friday.  The States have yet to agree to this model, the Catholic and Independents sectors are yet to agree to it.  The Prime Minister has to deliver this, even if she delivers it, it isn’t the great excitement that the Government had built up for people like the Australian Education Union.  If she can’t deliver this, then the Coalition in 150 days will hopefully form Government and we will be able to get some adults back in the room who are delivering real outcomes rather than smoke and mirrors.

Journalist: Well she is asking from the States to put in money, well it seems to me that the States don’t have the money to put in.

Pyne: Neither does the Commonwealth, John Michael.  This is the extraordinary situation which we find ourselves in. We are debating about a possibility that there won’t even be the money there. I mean for example, let me say this: is there is a possibility that the Government will deliver university cuts? 100%.  Does anybody have any belief that the Government will deliver massive new spending in schools? 0%. 

Journalist: Okay well can you then commit that if– the Coalition – well probably more win – if the Coalition wins the next government – next election – that your deal will be very different and that you will adopt the Gonski principles and you won’t cut money from the universities as dramatically as this Government has?

Pyne: Well the only way of saving the Australian people from a very bad government is to change the Government at the election.  Now if we are elected in September, if we are fortunate to do so, we will rollover the current model plus indexation on the average at around six per cent as it has been for the last ten years that delivers certainty to the sector. What we have at the moment is complete uncertainty. In terms of unwinding their cuts – their $11 billion in cuts of redirections – well if the government gets the deal through on Friday at COAG we won’t be going back and unpicking everything because the sector needs certainty.

Journalist: What about the Gonski report? Will you be implanting a lot of those recommendations?

Pyne: Well there are some good aspects in the Gonski report. For example changing from national partnerships programs or targeted programs to loading of students – we like that because that makes the funding sector blind. In another words, if you have a disabled child in a government school and a disabled child in a non-government school, they should be funded on the same basis. We like that and we will implement those changes. But the Prime Minister has the job of selling this on Friday and let’s see if she can do it.

Journalist: So effectively, I know you have to go Christopher we appreciate you time.

Pyne: Pleasure.

Journalist: If this piece of legislation gets through in July, effectively are you saying that you won’t repeal it should the Coalition win in September?

Pyne: Well let’s see what they manage to get through.  I am not confident that the states will want to handover all of their powers to the Commonwealth and school education for poultry $600 million dollars of new money a year when they’re expecting $6.5 billion. Let’s see what they can get through. But we’re not about to throw the baby out with the bath water after September because the school sector – both Catholic, Independent and state – need certainty not constant changes. And honestly this so-called huge unprecedented package of new spending is one tenth of what the sector was expecting so the government has delivered a damp squib, not a Catherine Wheel.

Journalist: Christopher, thanks for your time, appreciate it. Christopher Pyne, Shadow Education spokesperson, Leader of Opposition Business in the House.

ENDS