Doorstop Interview - Adelaide

SUBJECTS: Gonski Review; Crean challenge

E&OE………… 

Christopher Pyne: Well thank you very much for coming to this doorstop this afternoon. Craig Emerson on Sky Television this morning has let the cat out of the bag about the Government’s plans for not indexing funding in non-government schools in line with the current arrangement. He was asked by David Speers and by George Brandis on numerous occasions to commit to the current funding arrangements for non-government schools in terms of indexation; he failed to do so and simply obfuscated and indicated that there would be some kind of indexation arrangement but he couldn’t say what they are. The Coalition has been warning for some time that the Government has a secret plan not to index non-government school funding in line with the current arrangement that will mean a $4.2 billion cut to non-government schools over the next four years. That’s a massive increase for non-government school fees. Anything approaching $3600 per student will be needed in the non-government schools’ sector to replace that $4.2 billion. Now Craig Emerson has done what Peter Garrett and the Prime Minister have refused to do, which is to come clean with the non-government schools’ sector that they’ll be forced to put up their fees.

The second thing that has become apparent today having drilled further into the Gonski Review is the Government plans to introduce a means test for the parents of students at non-government schools. It’s in the Government’s DNA to means test aspirational Australians. They do it with private health insurance and now they do it to private schools. That will mean that the parent’s real income will be taken into account in determining what funds a school will attract from the Federal Government. If that happens, it will be a means test on parental income for non-government school students. For example if a school is charging $2000 for school fees but the Government decides because of the means of the parents that they should be charged $4000 in school fees, the school will be told to either put up your fees or the Government will reduce its funding accordingly. That is in the Government’s DNA, the Labor Party’s DNA to hurt aspirational voters. It is not in the Coalitions and we commit today that there will be no means test on the parental income of students at non-government schools and we will continue the current indexation arrangement with schools so that they have certainty.

On a different subject I’ve had it on very good authority today from people inside the Labor Party that Simon Crean is acting alone in his last 24 hour flurry in the press. I had assumed, like many, that he was acting on the instructions of the Prime Minister in taking aside to Kevin Rudd. But I understand from very good sources that in fact Simon Crean has been doing his own thing, because he is making his own run for the Labor Party leadership and that was confirmed by Bill Shorten last night on Q&A when asked repeatedly about the role of Simon Crean, he confirmed that Simon Crean was not acting on the instructions of the Gillard camp but was in fact doing his own thing. Simon Crean is running his own campaign, he is counting his own numbers. He, as one of the more experienced members of the Labor Party caucus, is sick of the poisonous circus that we have in the Labor Party in Canberra, he wants to put an end to it and if there is a contest next week there’ll certainly be more than two candidates for that. Simon Crean has planted his flag firmly in the ground in the last 24 hours and I think we can be absolutely certain that he will be the compromise candidate between the warring factions that are completely dissecting the Labor Party at this time.

Journalist: What do think his chances are then of getting up as the compromise candidate?

Pyne: Well Simon Crean, because of his experience, would be a much more formidable opponent than either Julia Gillard or Kevin Rudd there’s no doubt about that. He’s been opposition leader before, he’s been a Cabinet Minister but unfortunately for the Labor Party, it is not the personnel that are the problem, it’s the policies, the complete lack of direction, the complete focus on themselves internally rather than on the issues that matter to Australians. They’re not focussed on job security because they’re focussed on their own job security, they’re not focussed on border security for the same reason and they’re not focussed on the cost of living which is of concern for average Australians.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Well Simon Crean is part of this government and therefore he wears the opprobrium, the bad decisions they have been making, whether its means testing the private health insurance rebate, introducing a carbon tax in direct breach of their promise to the Australian people and now means testing the parental income of students in non-government schools, he’s been part of all of that and I think the Australian people will decide whoever the Labor leader is, it’s time to end the circus and get a government in power who’s focussed on the issues that they’re concerned about. Simon Crean would be a different opponent, he’d be more experienced than either Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard, but of course the most experienced man in the Federal Parliament who is also running for Prime Minister is Tony Abbott. He has more experience than any other Leader of the Opposition since Federation and that has not become Prime Minister.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Well it’s not, because the pity of it all is that the Australian people are the losers from what the Labor Party is engaging in right now. The Australian people want adults running the country at the moment and instead they have a squabbling band of many different views, six or seven or eight candidates are running for the Labor Party leadership, three very seriously in Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Simon Crean. Julia Gillard reminds me a bit of a rabbit at a greyhound race being chased by seven different greyhounds all of whom want the prize. So it’s not a good time.  For the opposition we would rather have a government focussed on job security, border security and cost of living.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: If the government goes ahead with its plan to introduce a means test on the parental income of students in non-government schools that can only mean one thing - that is rising fees in non-government schools. The other issue of course will be indexation. If indexation does not continue in its current arrangement that can only mean an increase in school fees at non-government schools. At a time of real cost of living pressure the last thing 1.2 million households in Australia with their children in non-government schools need is another hit to their hip pocket through rising school fees.

Journalist: The Government has said that it is committed to indexation in the new funding system. But are you saying its looking at government and non-government schools completely differently?

Pyne: Well the Government hasn’t said what it’s indexation might be.  At the moment the indexation is 6% per year, that is very certain to the non-government schools sector and that has been the case for well over a decade. The Government is using weasel words when asked about indexation. Craig Emerson this morning made its perfectly clear the government is not committed to the current arrangements. Peter Garrett and Julia Gillard have ducked and weaved to make sure they don’t have to answer that question. If I was a parent with a child in a non-government school, I would take that answer to mean they are not going to continue indexation in the current arrangements.

Journalist: The Prime Minister has been out visiting schools today... talking to schools and getting input, do you think this is a waste, wasn’t this the whole point of the report anyway?

Pyne: Well there’s two points to make about that, the Prime Minister and Peter Garrett should have come clean with the school they visited today and pointed out that without indexation that school would have to find another $1.8 million in school fees from its parents to meet the shortfall without indexation. I don’t think they would have got a very warm welcome if they told the parents and the principal that before they got there. Secondly, you’re right, this review was conceived in 2007, five years later we’ve seen the results yesterday and the Government announced a review into the review. The truth is the Government did not have a policy for non-government schools in 2007, didn’t have one in 2010 and won’t have one in 2013, because if it actually does what it wants to do it will mean a major increase in fees for parents and children in non-government schools – they know that is politically unpalatable, therefore they will go to their third election without a policy, which is why they’re again reviewing the review that has just taken five years to complete.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: What the report says is that the actual income of parents will be taken into account, in other words, their capacity to pay, which is a direct quote from the report will determine the new model. Capacity to pay can only mean one thing and that is how much income is available in that household to pay for school fees.

ENDS