Labor’s ALP schools plan will hike taxes warns Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison says Labor’s promise of an extra $14 billion over a decade for public schools will lead to an increase in taxes.

Bill Shorten has promised an extra $14 billion over a decade for public schools. Picture: AAP.

Scott Morrison says Labor’s promise of an extra $14 billion over a decade for public schools will lead to an increase in taxes.

Labor is attempting to put pressure on the government following Mr Morrison’s announcement of an extra $4.6bn for Catholic and independent schools last month.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor’s $14bn would fund more than 13,000 extra teachers or 23,000 teacher aides, in the biggest investment in public schools in Australian history.

The government is tipping an extra $23.5bn over a decade to schools from next year, which is $17 billion less than Labor had promised under the Gillard government’s original Gonski plan.

“What Bill Shorten has committed to is $14bn of higher taxes for Australian families,” Mr Morrison said.

“Every time you see Bill’s lips moving, promising to splash money around, understand you’re paying for it. He is increasing your taxes. So that’s at least $14 billion in extra taxes.

The Prime Minister said Labor could promise whatever it liked, but if they couldn’t run a strong economy, they couldn’t keep their promises.

“That’s why Australians can’t trust what Bill Shorten says. Labor can’t manage money,” he said.

“They can promise to spend lots of it, but they can’t manage money, and at the end of the day, Australian families will always end up paying more under Labor.”

Mr Morrison said Labor was unable to explain how existing education funding would be spent, let alone what parents would gain from the extra funding.

“Over the last ten years or so — and more — the commonwealth’s contribution to state school has been rising five times faster than state governments’ contribution to funding state schools,” Mr Morrison said.

“But parents want to know — are you getting value for money? Parents want to know how that money is being spent. Is it being spent well?

“You’re not hearing anything from Labor about how they are going to spend the money. They are just splashing money around before an election.

“I mean they have already announced this before, and it’s all paid for with higher taxes on Australian families and Australian pensioners and Australian superannuants, but they don’t explain how the money that is already being spent is going to get better outcomes.

“As a parent with my kids at school, I just want them to get better outcomes on their education like all parents do, and the money we’re going to invest is going to deliver on that because it’s going to bring about important changes about how education is managed all around the country.

“Labor’s just splashing your money around, that they’re taking out of your pocket to try and get themselves elected at the next election.”

‘No policy is more important than education’

Announcing his policy at Croydon Hills Primary School in Melbourne’s east alongside Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek, Victorian Labor Education Minister James Merlino and education stakeholders, Mr Shorten said no policy was more important than education.

“The reason why Labor wants to form a government is we want to hand on a better deal to the next generation. That’s something every parent would understand,” Mr Shorten said.

“My wife Chloe and I are educating three of our kids. We want a great education for them, and I want to see every Australian child in every Australian state get a quality education.

“That’s why Tanya Plibersek’s been leading our policy to make sure that we reinvest all of the money that the Liberals have cut out of public education.”

Mr Shorten said Labor had stood alongside the parents of low fee Catholic schools to ensure “cuts” to their funding were reversed.

“But now it’s the time of public education to make sure they get their fair share too,” he said.

“It is legitimate for parents who send their kids to government schools, who pay taxes to Canberra to see some of those taxes reinvested in the education of their kids at public schools.

“Unfortunately this government doesn’t seem to understand much about education. They seem to only respond to political pain.

“I’d just say to the parents of kids who send their kids to government schools: Labor’s got its numbers on the table.

“I think Mr Morrison needs to be called on by the parents of 2.5 million kids. Why does Mr Morrison think that funding public education, and cutting their education you can get away it, when you can’t get away with that in other sectors?

“We are calling that on. Every kid in Australia, and the kids who go to public schools deserve to be treated as first-class, because they are.”

Ms Plibersek said Croydon Hills Primary would be $620,000 better off over the first three years of Labor’s funding commitment.

“Can you imagine how many sausage sizzles, how many cake stalls, how many school fetes that is?” Ms Plibersek said.

“This school has a school fete every year. It has a chocolate drive that’s on at the moment because parents know that every extra dollar they raise for their school goes towards a better education for their children.

“So imagine the difference that $620,000 will make to a school like this, and then imagine what $14bn extra investment over the next decade will mean for public schools right around Australia, because every parents wants the best possible education for their child.

“We want every child in every school in every system, in every state and territory to get a world-class education, more one-on-one attention, more help with the basics, more attention for kids who are falling behind, so we pick that up earlier, and then the help to catch up, more extension for the kids who are gifted and talented, more subjects so we can offer better vocational education, languages, coding, arts education on top of the basics, and very importantly, more support that our excellent public school teachers can throughout their working lives, continue to upgrade their professional skills so they’re always at the peak of their game, so they’re always right on top of the new innovations and discoveries in education.

“We believe that every Australian child, no matter where they live, no matter who their parents are, how much their parents earn, should get a world-class education, and only Labor is committed to delivering that.”

Ms Plibersek said Labor was pleased the Morrison government had “restored” funding to Catholic and independent schools.

“We’ve seen from the Morrison government an admission recently that they’ve cut billions from Catholic and independent schools and we’re pleased that they are restoring funding to Catholic and independent schools, but the biggest cuts have been to public schools — 85 per cent of the cuts in the first two years alone came from public schools, so it’s public schools where we need to see the biggest investment in future years: $14bn,” she said.

“The Morrison government’s admitted their cuts to Catholic and independent schools. They should now admit that they’ve cut billions from public schools and they should restore those funding cuts so that every child, irrespective of system, irrespective of state or territory, irrespective of where they live or their parents’ income, can get a world-class education.”

‘Nothing fair’ about funding formula: Merlino

Mr Merlino said federal Labor’s announcement was exactly what the Victorian government had been calling for.

“It addresses the fundamental problem with the funding proposal on the table today from the federal Liberal government,” he said.

“There is nothing fair, there is nothing logical about the funding formula, the funding proposal by the Morrison government.

“You’ve got a proposal right now where non-government schools get to 100 per cent of the student resource standard and beyond, yet government schools are stuck at 95 per cent.

“To put this in perspective, for Victorian government schools in our first three years, this means $800m.

“That’s more than 2,000 teachers in our Victorian schools in the first three years under this funding proposal by the federal opposition. Imagine the transformation in all of our government schools. This is exactly what we have been calling for.”

Mr Merlino said federal Labor’s announcement set Victoria on a path to working with a federal Labor government to get 100 per cent of the student resource standard over the coming years.

“We have put this to the federal government. We are currently in negotiations. It has been carelessly and flatly rejected by (federal Education Minister) Dan Tehan and Scott Morrison.

“This proposal today smashes through that artificial 20 per cent funding barrier from the federal government.

“There is nothing needs-base at all about the model that is on the table today.

“This will mean the world of difference, and investment makes a difference.

“We’ve had four years in Victoria of sustained investment in Victorian schools, and that has delivered this year Victoria’s best ever NAPLAN results.

“Investing in our kids, investing in our schools, investing in our teachers and our principals makes a difference in children’s lives. It changes their lives. This is an investment in our nation’s future, and it is exactly what we’ve been calling for.”