Transcript - 2UE - 13 September 2010

SUBJECTS: Education in Labor's new Ministry

Tim Webster:

What do you make of splitting up the (education) portfolio not into two, but three?

Christopher Pyne MP:

Look I think it is an error on the Government's part, I think they have dropped the ball again, whether it is a mistake or whether they have deliberately done it, I'm not sure. They should act to fix it; obviously we need to have a Minister for Education.

Universities, as just one example, don't expect to be regarded as a skills factory or a jobs factory, they've been put under Chris Evans portfolio. Universities, especially our elite universities are much greater than jobs factories, they are centres of learning, centres of research, and they have lead many of the important breakthroughs in science, education, maths, physics and so forth, so it is a big mistake the way they've set it up.

Webster:

The worry I have because I'm not fond of too much bureaucracy is aren't they creating more hoops to jump through?

Pyne:
The answer is yes, but one of the most peculiar things is that Peter Garrett is the Minister for Schools, which is a promotion for the most incompetent Minister in the previous Government, and yet he is not responsible for the school halls program, so the school halls program is Chris Evans' bailiwick. I guess this makes it harder for the Government to be held to account if you don't know who to go to and complain. That might be part of their strategy to put the school halls program in the skills and industrial relations portfolio so that people don't realise that Chris Evans is the responsible Minister.

Webster:

Alight, devils advocate - there could be a theory that since it is such a big portfolio, breaking it up into three might be more efficient?

Pyne:

Look I don't think that is true because there are synergies between primary school, university, early childhood education, obviously apprenticeships and training, and one of the most important indicators of whether you're going to university is whether you were inculcated with that sort of ambition in primary school it is not whether you were told in year 12 here's a scholarship to get to university. While those things are useful, in fact the most important indicator is whether in primary school you were convinced you could go onto university, or whether you believed you couldn't.

So there are important synergies between all the aspects of the education portfolio, and they should be kept together. Splitting them up is a bizarre act of the Government. Peter Garrett couldn't giveaway pink batts for free and now he is responsible for the education of our children, I find it a little frightening.

Webster:

That a good point, what are your concerns about Peter Garrett as schools minister, I don't know what Julia Gillard is thinking here. Does he have any experience in education?

Pyne:

Not that I'm aware of, no, and I don't know why he would have been promoted. The two things that stand out about this reshuffle are the promotion of failed Ministers like Peter Garrett, and the splitting up of the education portfolio leaving Universities without a Minister, and secondly the promotion of the faceless factional chiefs who Julia Gillard said wouldn't be promoted during the election campaign, but there they are, Bill Shorten, David Feeney, Don Farrell, Mark Butler, Mark Arbib all promoted or given jobs for the first time.

Webster:

No surprise there though?

Pyne:

No, no surprise, we should have expected Julia Gillard to break that promise when she was elected, but some people believe the Prime Minister when she says something.

Webster:
Well you should have to shouldn't you?

Pyne:

Well that's the old fashion way. Those of us who are a bit more cynical understand that she just said that to get through the Rooty Hill public meeting.

Webster:

I'm not usually a big fan of inquiries, I'm really not, but there should be one into the BER shouldn't there?

Pyne:

Well the Opposition has been calling for a judicial inquiry, not just any kind of inquiry, but a properly referenced judicial inquiry with a retired judge to actually go through who is responsible and how much money had been wasted, we think we know the answer to that is Julia Gillard, and that is probably why the Government is refusing to do it. Under the new Standing Orders that I negotiated with Anthony Albanese and Robert Oakeshott, the Opposition will have the opportunity to move for a judicial inquiry as a Private Members Bill and that will be one of the first tests of the independents, the Greens and Andrew Wilkie in the House of Representatives.

Webster:

(Inaudible)

Pyne:

Nobody is against school infrastructure, but what we are against is being ripped off blind as taxpayers... Julia Gillard always says if the Opposition criticises the cost blow-outs then we're against school infrastructure, which is just a ham-fisted way of trying to shut down criticism...

(inaudible)

There is a school in the paper today...

Webster:

Yes I saw that one...

Pyne:

Who want to keep two of their perfectly useful demountable classrooms and they're been told they are going to be towed away so they will be left with less buildings than before the so-called Building the Education Revolution.

Webster:

What a disaster. Now will this reshuffle affect the national curriculum? Are we any closer to seeing a reasonable proposal for a consistent curriculum after year ten? It seems to change every year.

Pyne:

Peter Garrett is now in charge of the development of the National Curriculum, and implementing it. The Coalition would like to see a national curriculum, but we'd also like to see the flexibility schools need to have to look after their particular regional persuasion. We will be watching the national curriculum very closely... the other big problem we have for education that is brewing is the funding for non-government schools.

Webster:

Of course

Pyne:

Peter Garrett is very close to the Greens, and was of course a Green at one point - the Greens have very strong views about not funding non-government schools. So under this new Labor Green alliance, the non-government school sector, which is 1.2 million children, so more than 2 million parents are going to have to be very aware that they may be charged higher school fees under the Labor Green Government.

Webster:

Yeah, we'll have to see what transpires. Good to talk with you.