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Gonski 2.0: Labor will restore $17b ‘cut’ to schools

Tanya Plibersek says the move is like something out of a dictatorship. Photo: AAP

Tanya Plibersek says the move is like something out of a dictatorship. Photo: AAP Photo: AAP

Labor has vowed to restore the $17 billion it says the Turnbull government has cut from schools through its Gonski 2.0 education package.

Education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said Labor remained opposed to the $23 billion schools package, which passed the Parliament last week with the help of the Senate crossbench.

Ms Plibersek said Labor would take spending cuts to the next election in order to pour an extra $17 billion into the education system.

“We say this is a $17 billion cut,” Ms Plibersek told Sky News.

“We have committed to restoring every dollar of the funding that has been cut. That means a better deal for public schools and Catholic systemic schools and the other systemic schools.”

Ms Plibersek’s comments are the latest sign that education will remain a key battleground at the next election, despite Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declaring that Gonski 2.0’s passage through the Parliament would bring the schools funding wars to an end.

gonski

Education Minister Simon Birmingham struck a deal with the Senate crossbench. Photo: AAP

The opposition has sided with the Australian Education Union, Catholic sector and some state governments, who have claimed the Commonwealth’s new funding model will leave many schools worse off.

Labor had famously declared that “no school will lose a dollar” under its original Gonski legislation.

Speaking on Sunday, Ms Plibersek said voters should not assume Labor would hike taxes to pay for the additional funding.

“We will go to the next election with clearly identified spending cuts and I’m confident people will understand we are well able to afford this investment in our children’s education,” she said. 

But Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne dismissed suggestions extra money was what was required.

“Now we can focus on getting our outcomes up,” Mr Pyne told Sky News.

“It’s not just about money, it’s actually about teaching, it’s about parental engagement, it’s about the independence of schools, it’s about curriculum.”

Earlier in the year, the government announced that business David Gonski would lead a review into educational outcomes aimed at maximising the benefits of its new funding package.

Mr Gonski led the Gillard government’s initial review into schools funding that spawned Labor’s 2013 funding agreements.

Last week’s bruising Gonski debate has also exposed fierce divisions within the Greens, who extracted concessions from the government before voting against the package in the amid pressure from the teacher’s union.

NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon on Sunday denied accusations she had derailed the party’s negotiations with the government after leaflets were distributed in her name panning Gonski 2.0.

“At all times my actions on education have been faithful to Greens policy and process,” she said in a statement.

It followed reports the party’s other nine MPs had signed a letter to the Greens’ national council flagging potential “action” against Senator Rhiannon.

The government’s funding package passed Parliament about 2am on Friday morning after Education Minister Simon Birmingham agreed to boost the overall funding from $18 billion to $23 billion, meaning poorer schools would reach their Gonski funding level four years sooner.

Senator Birmingham also agreed to give the Catholic and Independent sectors an extra 12 month under the existing arrangements in order to placate Coalition MPs concerned about a potential backlash in their electorates.

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