Keneally slams Turnbull on education despite cutting $318M from schools as premier
BENNELONG hopeful Kristina Keneally has slammed the Turnbull government for cutting education funding, while failing to mention that as NSW premier she oversaw the slashing of $318 million from schools in one year alone.
NSW
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BENNELONG hopeful Kristina Keneally has slammed the Turnbull government for cutting education funding, while failing to mention that as NSW premier she oversaw the slashing of $318 million from schools in one year alone.
Labor kicked off its campaign against Liberal John Alexander yesterday, with its education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek claiming the government’s funding reforms had cut $10 million from the schools of Bennelong.
“If the people of Bennelong want proper funding for their schools and affordable university, they should vote Labor, they should vote for Kristina Keneally,” Ms Plibersek said.
But Productivity Commission figures show under NSW’s Keneally Labor government, state funding for schools dropped from $11.24 billion to $10.93 billion.
All but $3 million of that funding cut in the 2010 state budget came from public schools, the figures show.
A spokeswoman for Ms Keneally disputed the Productivity Commission figures, and said the 2010 budget had increased funding across the education sector by $300 milllion.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said Ms Keneally could “tell as many lies as she wants but the facts of her lousy government speak for themselves”.
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“I’m not surprised she’s calling for more funding for Bennelong schools after she slashed funding to students by up to $508 each,” Senator Birmingham said.
“Our Gonski funding plan will give each Bennelong school on average an extra $4 million so Ms Keneally should be asking Bill Shorten why he voted against that extra money.”
But at her campaign launch, Ms Keneally said Mr Turnbull’s Coalition government, “not content with cutting funding to universities,” was “also cutting funding to our local schools”.
“Here in Bennelong there are five schools at capacity ... all chock-a-block, and what is the Liberals solution to that: throw up some more temporary facilities,” she said.
She was joined in Ryde by Labor leader Bill Shorten, NSW Labor leader Luke Foley and a number of current and former MPs, including former NSW premier Barry Unsworth.
The federal government secured $23.5 billion more in schools funding in June compared to previous budgets, but Labor says that is still around $20 billion less than it had promised under deals struck by the Gillard government in 2013.
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