Sky News First Edition

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

Kieran Gilbert: I’m told we’re now joined in Adelaide by the Shadow Minister for Education and the Manager of Opposition Business, Christopher Pyne. Mr Pyne thank you for joining us this morning. You have been critical of the Governments response to Gonski, but really when you boil it down all it means is more money for schools. How can you be critical of that as the bottom line?

Hon Christopher Pyne MP: Well Kieran nobody is more, is critical of more money for schools it’s just that the Government needs to be exposed for the hypocrites that they are, because they are actually making savings in their school education new funding model. It’s amazing to believe it, but they’re making cuts and redirections of $11 billion and putting in $9.4 billion which means they’re actually making $1.6 billion saving as part of their new school funding model. Now the Prime Minister talked about unprecedented levels of education funding and new commitments she’s talked, in the Gonski Report they suggested $6.5 billion would be needed in new funding to lift to school standards. There will be $600 million of new money but all of that will need to come from the States. The State’s contribution is around $5 billion and the States will be the ones who are putting in the new money because the Commonwealth is making a saving. So on Friday when the State Premiers all sit around at COAG and talk about this they need to understand that actually they’re the ones that are being asked to come up with the new money, the Commonwealth is making a saving.

Gilbert: But you’ve referred to cuts, but you’ve referred to cuts in the midyear budget update, for example the Government points out that the only reduction in funding for schools was as a result of the lower indexation rate because the States themselves were spending less on state schools. That was the results of the model put in, the indexation model put in by the Howard Government; the Government says it’s fixing that, so for you to point to those cuts they’re saying is disingenuous.

Pyne: Well Kieran there’s a $600 million cut to the Laptops in Schools Programme, there’s the cuts to apprentices, cuts to trainees, cuts to universities, cuts to schools themselves through literacy and numeracy, redirections of literacy and numeracy, teacher quality, low SES national partnerships. Now sure you can say that there not cuts necessarily to schools students all of them, but they are cuts to education so therefore you’re saying its okay for the Government to rob Peter to pay Paul.  So they’re robbing future aspirations for students who want to go to university or get apprenticeships or get traineeships to meet a 150 day deadline for Julia Gillard for the re-election strategy. So she has a re-election plan, she doesn’t have an education plan, this is a ‘conski’ not a Gonski and I think that will become more and more apparent over the coming days.

Gilbert: But there’s no reduction in the university funding is there? It’s simply an efficiency given as they describe it on the backdrop of growing funding. The funding to uni’s will continue to grow over the next two years wont it?

Pyne: Kieran you mustn’t just accept the Prime Ministers rhetoric. Even David Gonski, even David Gonski the architect of the Gonski Report has attacked the Prime Ministers response even he has said that these cuts…

Gilbert: On universities, on that basis…

Pyne:  They are cuts to universities.

Gilbert: But the money will continue to grow though is the point, isn’t there? And if you go, you know if the fiscal environment is tight the money is growing already in the university sector, why not ask them to tighten their belt a little, it’s not a reduction in funding is it?

Pyne: Kieran it’s a reduction in real terms in funding to universities over the coming years, so of course it’s a cut to university funding, it’s a cut of $2.8 billion to universities and education at that level. Before $500 million cut to self education expenses tax deductions, $2.3 billion in cuts to education announced on Saturday and higher education. $3.9 billion in cuts announced last year. Now you can use whatever sophistry the Government, the Prime Minister likes to use, they’re cutting $11 billion from education and putting in $9.4 billion, they’re making a $1.6 billion saving in education. Now the Gonski Report talked about $6.5 billion of new money a year, now they’re putting in $600 million of new money and that all has to come from the State’s contribution otherwise there’d be actually a cut.

Gilbert: You are likely, more than likely be the Minister from September this year. What will you do if some of the States sign on, because some of the Coalition States like New South Wales are more sympathetic to what they’re hearing about this plan than others and what would you some sign on and some don’t is that a viable proposition where you’ve got some of the States on one funding model and others on the old model?

Pyne: Look it isn’t a viable proposition Kieran and for the Prime Minister to say that that’s what’ll happen clearly indicates how absolutely desperate she has become. There is a perfectly good funding model in place; the Coalition will index that under current arrangements which means over the last ten years the average has been about 6% so the Coalition’s indexation rate is higher than the Prime Minister was offering yesterday. The truth is we can’t have a system in Australia where there are different models for different States from the Commonwealth. It would be a pig’s breakfast of a model and the Prime Minister will have achieved another absolute incompetent pig’s breakfast of a policy which wouldn’t surprise anybody.

Gilbert: What will you do? Will you seek to unwind the deals that were done, or how will you manage that?

Pyne: It would be, Kieran it would be absolutely irresponsible of the Prime Minister to proceed with a new school funding model after Fridays COAG meeting if all the States and Territories don’t agree to it. You couldn’t have a system in Australia which now has a national curriculum, much of our school funding model is national, there has been for since 2000 a national uniform school funding model. It would be ridiculous if, for different States to have different models based on Commonwealth funding. If the Prime Minister thinks that is viable then she really has lost it.

Gilbert: Mr Pyne thanks for your time, appreciate it.

Pyne: Pleasure.

ENDS.