Lambie defends vote to grab extra Gonski funds for Tassie

Jacqui Lambie has hit back at critics after she secured a $20 million sweetheart package for school funding.

The Coalition scrambled to keep senator Jacqui Lambie’s support for Gonski 2.0 funding. Picture: Kym Smith

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has hit back at critics accusing her of robbing Tasmanian students of the chance for the “full Gonski’’ after she secured a $20 million sweetheart package for her home state as part of the school funding shake-up.

The Australian Education Union has slammed all 10 Senate crossbenchers who voted for the Turnbull government’s Gonski 2.0 plan, saying they needed to realise they were “complicit in entrenching disadvantage’’ in the state.

But Senator Lambie defended her vote. “It’s not like if the vote didn’t pass, we would have woken up the next day with the ‘full Gonski’,’’ she said. “I wasn’t going to pass up an extra $24 billion for schools, including nearly $700m for my state.’’

Senator Lambie’s emerged as the critical deciding vote on the $23.5bn school funding changes 10 days ago and found herself in a political tug of war. The Coalition scrambled to keep her support, while the Catholic education sector, unions and Labor pressured her to peel away.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham also embarked on a political charm offensive, travelling to Devonport last month to spend time with Senator Lambie.

After the vote, Senator Lambie revealed she had “fought for and delivered a special, additional $20m in funding for Tasmanian schools’’.

“The money is a supplementary pool of resources to be made available to Tasmanian schools as they undergo transition to the new funding arrangements,’’ she said.

“While the final details of the package are being established with the minister, the expectation is that the money will be distributed to schools on application to help absorb the impact of transitioning between disability loadings, as well as funding early numeracy and literacy programs.’’

Senator Lambie said “Labor has decided to pretend’’ the vote was between their model — the so-called full Gonski which includes an extra $17bn over the decade — and the government’s Gonski 2.0 package.

“But that’s simply not the case,’’ Senator Lambie said. “(Julia) Gillard introduced a good package that Tony Abbott gutted. The 2014 budget happened. That was what we were choosing between: Malcolm Turnbull’s education funding package, or Tony Abbott’s.’’

But deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said: “Nothing changes the fact that Mr Turnbull is giving Tasmanian public schools the second worst deal of any state or territory in Australia.

“The Liberals railed against ‘special deals’, yet their new policy includes more than 30 different ­arrangements.’’

The Turnbull government rejects that its temporary transition funds to help sectors adjust to the changes equate to special deals.

“We’ve thrown out the 27 special deals Labor stitched up,’’ Senator Birmingham said.

“Our model of needs-based funding hasn’t changed since we announced it at the start of May — at the end of transition arrangements students with the same need will get treated consistently across the country, no matter what sector or state their school is in.”

AEU Tasmanian president Helen Richardson slammed Senator Lambie and the other crossbenchers who sided with the Coalition, saying they needed to “realise they are complicit in ­entrenching disadvantage in our state and rob a generation of kids the educational lift they need for a bright future’’. “Malcolm Turnbull’s legislation rips up Tasmania’s signed Gonski agreement and denies our public schools $85m of Gonski and entrenches under resourcing for the next six years or more,” she said.