Doorstop

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

Pyne: Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Prime Minister has made the startling statement today which she’s repeated from yesterday, but I couldn’t believe it yesterday, that she will go ahead with each state individually should she not be able to get agreement at COAG on Friday for a new school funding model. That means that we could have a system where there are 16 different school funding models around the country, which would be more complication, more arresting complexity than the current system. One of the things in the Gonski report that made it very clear was that the system should be simpler, not more complex. Now the Prime Minister has said if she can’t get agreement on Friday, she will go ahead individually with the states. This will be the most complex system of school funding in decades. It just shows the Prime Minster has jumped the shark. She’s so desperate to try and shift the debate to anything other than cost of living, job security, economic management and border protection that she is prepared to throw out a national uniform funding model for schools in order to have a debate about education funding. I’ve never seen such an irresponsible action on the part of a Prime Minister or a Minister for Education to say that if they could not get a national uniform agreement from the council of Australian Governments, that they would individually have a school funding model with every state. Imagine the bureaucratic nightmare of running at least two education systems. Potentially a different system for non-government schools. A different system for Catholic schools. A different system for each state and territory. It would be a bureaucratic nightmare. It throws the Gonski report out the window and shows how desperate the Prime Minister has become, to do anything other than do the right thing by the Australian public.

Journalist: How different would it be to what we’ve got currently with… (inaudible).

Pyne: Well we have a national uniform school funding model which operates all around the country. Since 2000 we’ve had a socio-economic status model. And before that we had the education resource index, so for decades we’ve had a national uniform school funding model that’s covered all the states, all the non-government schools, all the Catholic schools. This would be unprecedented in its complexity and is just shows that the Prime Minister has jumped the shark – she’s like Fonzie in Happy Days, incapable of governing competently. She’s now decided to do anything she can to try and distract people from the failures of her Government. The only sensible system that we can have is one that operates nationally across the country. There is also the added complexity that is now being created, the added uncertainty is the $14.5 billion spending ticket that had been put on these announcements yesterday has blown out of the water. Because if some states stick with the old system, they will get more money. For example if Western Australia decides to stick with the old socio-economic status model they won’t get the $300 million that the Government is offering them, they could quite frankly get hundreds of millions of dollars more. So now she has blown the Federal Government’s figures out the door. The Prime Minister needs to come out today and make it absolutely clear that there will be one nationally consistent funding model, that there will not be different models for different states if she can’t get an agreement at COAG and if she doesn’t do that then her school funding reforms are dead in the water.

Journalist: With regards to Julia saying she will legislate whether the states agree or not, where does leave you and an incoming Abbott Government?

Pyne: Well how can the Prime Minister legislate for a state school funding model if the states don’t agree? Now quite frankly, she is obviously unhinged if she thinks she can have different funding models for different states and that she can legislate to make that happen. The Prime Minister has lost the plot. She needs to sit down and negotiate with the States. She gave them the quantum of funds yesterday. They’ve had the Gonski report since November 2011. They’ve been in government for five and a half years. They are hopelessly incompetent as a Government. This is what happened with the media reform laws; it’s what happened with superannuation just this year and now with the school funding model. They’ve handled it so badly we are now in a situation where they are expecting the states in five days to sign up to a new model that they have had the details of, for 24 hours.

Journalist: You are clearly critical of the plan. Will the opposition support it if these bills go before parliament as she would like to happen before the election?

Pyne: Well, everything depends on Friday’s meeting. If COAG agrees to these, this new school funding model, the Coalition won’t be tinkering with it. It will be up to the States. But that’s a matter for COAG on Friday; we can’t control what each state decides to do. The other aspect of this is we need to go through what each of the states have said. South Australia, Jay Weatherill sold South Australia down the river by telling his Labor mates in Canberra that he would sign up to a school funding deal. Because of the criticism he has copped from the State Opposition here in South Australia in the last 24 hours, he is now backing away from that. He is now saying that he will renegotiate with the national government. The Universities in South Australia have taken a massive hit with more cuts, $2.8 billion of cuts on Saturday with the Government robbing Peter to pay Paul. That is a big impact on South Australia. Collin Barnett said that he would be nuts to sign up to an agreement which took money away from Western Australia. The ACT, the most left-wing Labor Government in the country, originally said that they supported it but are now saying they aren’t sure it is good for Canberrans. Western Australia, I’ve already covered. Victoria has been luke-warm, NSW are yet to commit. Queensland, Campbell Newman said he won’t commit to it; so the Prime Minister is a long way from bringing this ship into port and threatening and bullying the States with bellicose statements about going it alone and creating the most complex school funding model in national history is no way to govern the country.

Journalist: If she gets agreement from the states at COAG will the Opposition support it in Parliament.

Pyne: If the states agree to this school funding model on Friday, we will consider exactly what has been agreed to and will make a decision then.

Journalist: What would you do in Government?

Pyne: Oh well firstly we would have to see what happens at COAG on Friday, we’ve said that it is too late for a new school funding model, that it takes 12-18 months to implement a new school funding model. The Government has left this to the very last minute because of their incompetence. They expect the model to be implemented between July and December; it’s not enough time.  And we’ve said that we would extend the current model by one to two years with indexation of around 6% which is what it’s been on average for the last ten years. And that will mean the States, the non government sector will have certainty for at least a year or two and in that time we will get the job done properly unlike the current Minister and Prime Minister.

Journalist: If this is passed the way that Julia Gillard would like but you end up in Government would you repeal it?  Would you dump it effectively?

Pyne: Look we don’t want a round of inconsistency like the Government has created in the media laws, and superannuation and the tax system generally.  But it’s a hypothetical question because we are yet to see what happens on Friday.  Let’s see what happens, what the states do, my hunch is that the Prime Minister will find it very hard to get agreement to a funding model that takes from some states to give to others.  That takes from university students, apprentices, trainees and others to give to school students.  They couldn’t have mishandled this more badly and as a consequence we need to wait and see how it unravels.   

Journalist: Would you hold onto the university funding that is being pulled out for this plan if in Government?  Would you hold on to that and pocket it or would you give it back?

Pyne: Well we can’t save the university sector from Opposition.  Should we be fortunate to be elected in September we will live within our means, we will get growth going again, we will improve productivity, we will make sure that the revenues are flowing by doing things like abolishing the carbon tax to take the pressure of cost of living, abolishing the mining tax in order to get the economy moving again, remove red tape and try and get some certainty to government policy so there is confidence in the economy.   As the budget improves over time we will then be in a position to be generous to the university sector as the Howard Government was.  When you have no money it is hard to be generous and this government is leaving us with a massive deficit and a massive debt.  Debt of $300 billion, accumulated deficits of $173 billion.

Journalist: So do you think there is a way to get national agreement on what is effectively a state run sector?

Pyne: Well the national school funding model derives from the Commonwealth.  And what they are proposing is $11 billion of cuts to education and to be replaced by $9.4 billion of spending.  So they are proposing to make a saving of $1.6 billion in education, which I think is scandalous.  They’re asking the states to make up the difference.  Now if the states have that money we’ll see that on Friday.  

ENDS.