Transcript 3 Dec 2008 - Schools Assistance Bill

Parliament House

Schools Assistance Bill, Julie Bishop, deficit, interest rates

2 December, 2008

CHRISTOHER PYNE MP:

Today we’ll be debating the Schools Assistance Bill in the Senate. I heard the Deputy Prime Minister on the radio this morning continuing to refuse to give Steiner Schools and Montessori Schools, IB and other unique schools the comfort that they need for the Coalition to pass this Bill. Indeed the Deputy Prime Minister says they have nothing to worry about, but she also in the same breath, also says that the National Curriculum Board would be the board that would look after these schools. The Opposition is saying that the Government should in fact give these schools the comfort that they need, and this should be built into the Bill, the easiest way to do that is to simply describe the national curriculum as the national curriculum or its equivalent. The Opposition will be insisting on those amendments today, and we’ll also be insisting on the national curriculum part of the Bill be removed. The Opposition is quite prepared to pass the $28 billion in funding through the Senate today but the Deputy Prime Minister insists that the national curriculum be part of this Bill. The Coalition has said that the national curriculum isn’t even written yet, it is a contract that the schools are being asked to sign without seeing the fine print, and we will not pass that.

The other issue, the funding disclosure issue, the Coalition insists that private institutions be able to keep their private sources of funding, private, not because we’re concerned about transparency -that information has always been provided to the Government, even when we were in Government. There is no basis to publish that information unless you have a hidden agenda to destroy the SES funding model. That is the clear hidden agenda in this Bill, and if the Government was fair dinkum, they would just say that they would get the information, gather the information that the Government says that they so desperately need, but will not publish it – that would be enough for the Opposition to pass the Bill. The Government isn’t prepared to do that, and therefore we will be moving our amendments and insisting on them in the Senate, and I hope Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon will support us.

JOURNALIST:

Will you vote against it if you don’t get the amendments you’re after?

PYNE:

We believe very firmly in diversity and choice in the Coalition. One of our bedrock, foundational, philosophical beliefs. We don’t see any reason why the national curriculum cannot be removed from this Bill and debated separately next year. It doesn’t actually begin until 2012. It’s not like this is about to happen in 2009 - there is no good reason for it be in this Bill unless you’re trying to put a gun to the head of the Senate and link it to $28 billion in funding. We will insist on our amendments and we’ll see that through right to the end.

JOURNALIST:

If you don’t get them will you be voting against the bill?

PYNE:

It’s our intention to insist on our amendments.

JOURNALIST:

Is it wise for Julie Bishop to attack journalists like Chris Mitchell from the Australian newspaper and …(inaudible).

PYNE:

Look I think the whole issue surrounding Julie Bishop has become a bit weird. Julie Bishop is doing a perfectly good job as the Deputy Leader and the Shadow Treasurer. The pressure should be on the Government to actually deliver. Julia Gillard has presided over a 66% blow-out in the Computers in Schools program. The real pressure should be on the Deputy Prime Minister and her failure to manage the job of education. She really needs to do either industrial relations or education but she can’t continue to do both.

JOURNALIST:

Just back on education, if the public is sending the money to private schools why doesn’t the public have the right to know how much money those private schools are making from other sources?

PYNE:

Well it’s similar to a private taxpayer. The private taxpayer has to make all their sources of funding, if you like, known to the Australian Tax Office, and pay their tax. That information is held by the tax office, but it’s not published on the front page of the newspaper or on the television at night. That’s what the Government wants to do with private sources of funding from private institutions. Now why would you want to do that unless you had a hidden agenda, to create the politics of envy, to create a debate around the SES funding model, to destroy that model in 2010? That’s clearly what they’re doing and the Opposition is not going to buy up to it.

JOURNALIST:

(Inaudible - Independent Schools groups say they need the money)

PYNE:

Independent Schools say they need the bits to do with funding passed. The Opposition will give it’s commitment to pass those parts of the Bill today. So there is plenty of time for us to debate this bill this week. The parts to do with the national curriculum can be split, we can debate that separately.

JOURNALIST:

The Government is accusing Julie Bishop of misrepresenting her time at Harvard is there any ring of truth to that?

PYNE:

There is very little ring of truth to anything the Government has to say about members of the Opposition.

JOURNALIST:

Just in relation to the deficit, why is it that no respected economist has come out and endorsed your position on it…(inaudible)

PYNE:

Well I have a great deal of respect for economists, but there were some economists this year who said the surplus would be bigger than the $22 billion projected by the Government so the Opposition is very clear. We don’t believe at this time that there is any reason for a competently managed economy and a competently managed budget to go into deficit.

JOURNALIST:

That may be on this particular day, but if in a small passage of time the economy continues to slow…

PYNE:

Well the forecasts indicate that growth will remain at about 2% or just slightly less, and the Opposition says that there is no need for there to be a deficit budget, the public expect the Government to live within their means, and the Government wants a leave pass to continue to make the same kinds of mistakes that they made with Computers in Schools. We now know where the surplus has gone, at least $800 million of it has gone in the Computers in Schools blow-out, and yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister refused to rule out further lifelines to Computers in Schools to hold up her bungled policy.

JOURNALIST:

So no deficit under any circumstances?

PYNE:

I think I’ve answered that question.

JOURNALIST:

(Inaudible – reserve bank lowering interest rates)

PYNE:

Of course not, banks should pass on the full rate cut, whatever it is, to consumers and the Opposition would expect them to do so.

2 December 2008

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