Senator LINES (Western Australia) (16:11): What a mess Mr Turnbull and his government have made of school funding, along with their complete dishonesty to the Australian public and, frankly, incompetence. Remember their commitments, their promises—the unity ticket, the lock-step on Gonski and the dollar-for-dollar matching of Labor's funding—which were on display at polling booths across the nation. That is the commitment they gave, and yet they continue to renege on it. Was it all just a hoax unfortunately foisted on Australian school students who need a better deal, who need a better funding model? Was the government's unity ticket, their step-for-step, their dollar-for-dollar a great big dishonest trick played on Australian voters by Mr Abbott, then by Mr Turnbull, then by former education minister Christopher Pyne and now by Senator Birmingham? The $30 billion cut the Liberals made to school funding is the biggest single cut to education in Australia's history. Just a few weeks ago Prime Minister Turnbull had a completely crazy thought bubble when he proposed the ridiculous idea of withdrawing all federal funding for our public education system. The Prime Minster followed up this crazy proposal with another crazy proposal—that states could levy their own taxes to pay for the massive shortfall in the funds that withdrawing federal funding for education would create. That would create in our history an absolute disparity between states on something we should have a unity ticket on and something which should be national—that is, school funding. Why should one state, which may have been able to levy higher taxes, have a better system than other states? That is the American system, and their system is a mess; in some states taxes are not levied at all and parents are just left with a very poor school system. That is what the Turnbull government was proposing. I do not know what the Prime Minister was thinking with this crazy, crazy idea, but every single state and territory rejected the idea—except my state of Western Australia. Why? Because we have a foolish premier in Mr Colin Barnett. Frankly, he has no credibility. He has squandered the mining boom and turned our economy, the great powerhouse of Western Australia, into a cot case. He has slashed and burnt education in Western Australia, to the point that everyone is speaking about what a poor job he is doing. And there he is bailing out a crazy idea put by the Turnbull government. This week the Turnbull government changed their tune again, making an announcement that a tiny share—just $1 billion—of the $30 billion that they ripped out of education would be restored. Clearly the jokers are in charge when it comes to the Turnbull government—to call this a funding increase! To add insult to injury, today in the Senate it was called 'yet another increase'. The Liberals said at the polling booths that they would match our funding, dollar for dollar. That turned out to be completely incorrect, a lie—a dishonesty that Australian voters had every right to believe in. But when it comes to school education, the Turnbull government, whoever the minister of the day is, clearly cannot be trusted. What have the states said about this latest thought bubble? In Victoria they said: It doesn't matter which way Malcolm Turnbull tries to spin it, this is another Liberal broken promise and a bitter pill to swallow for Victorian students and their families. What did South Australia have to say? They said: We don't need more commonwealth testing, we need commonwealth funding. What did Queensland say? They said: If the Government really cared about literacy and numeracy and prep and year one, then they would put their money into additional teacher aids in the classroom that make a real difference to students' learning. And the great Liberal state of New South Wales? They have been in lock step with Labor's plan. They want Gonski. I was at the public meeting when the New South Wales Liberal minister announced, 'We want Gonski.' That is what he said. Senator Birmingham: He's not a Liberal. He's a National. Senator LINES: He is in the Liberal government. It does not matter. Suddenly they make a distinction: 'Oh, he's a National; he's not part of us.' Well, he is part of you. He is the Minister for Education in the New South Wales government, and he has outlived the succession of education ministers we have had in the Abbott-Turnbull government. He has been the minister for quite some time, and he is in lock step with Labor. What did this minister in the New South Wales Liberal-National Party government, the biggest Liberal-National Party government of all the states, say? He said: … NSW will continue to advocate for the full Gonski funding in its agreement with the Commonwealth government. He has said that over and over again, so he is certainly in lock step with Labor, because he trusts Labor on education. He certainly does not trust the Turnbull government's thought bubbles and endless commitments or promises to be broken. As soon as the election is over, those promises will disappear—mark my words. Meanwhile, Labor has had a detailed policy in the public realm for months, a policy Labor developed with those who know it best: teachers, parents and education experts. Labor will reverse the Turnbull government's cuts to education and we will implement the Gonski reforms on time and in full. Certainly the Liberal-National Party government in New South Wales believe us when we say that, and they back us in on that. Labor's investment will mean more classroom support for students, early intervention programs in schools, additional literacy and numeracy programs and teachers having the tools to better track student achievement. Earlier this year I chaired the Senate inquiry into children with disability in our education system. I was really shocked at what poor treatment children with disability have in our education system. What has the Turnbull government done about their education? Nothing. The government system and the non-government system told us absolutely, in clear terms: CPI matched funding is not enough for them. The Catholic education system said that their schools for kids with disability would close. We met with parents who had to fight to even get their kids enrolled. We owe it to children with disability to make sure that they get the education they are entitled to—not the crumbs off the table, not to attend for half a day at a time, not for pressure to be put onto parents to buy the aids necessary to support their education—and that they are treated as learners in our system. That is what Labor will do. Labor wants all students to achieve their full potential. Our plan is about students, not postcodes. The Gonski review clearly established that our current school funding system, the one the Turnbull government is clinging to, defines school outcomes according to postcode, not student ability. This is wrong, and Labor's education plan will change that. Labor is the only party you can trust on the education commitments we make. Fair education funding is in our DNA, and we will fight for it year in, year out.