Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Attorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:38): Senator Sterle, I see you are relying on some press reports of remarks attributed to Senator Seselja. I do not know and I am not in a position to tell you what conversation Senator Seselja and the Prime Minister may or may not have had, but I can tell you this, Senator Sterle: you should have been listening to my friend Senator Birmingham when he answered questions from your side of the chamber, because the school-funding package that Senator Birmingham announced last week as part of the 2017-18 budget will increase school funding over the next decade by $18.6 billion. As Mr David Gonski himself has said, in the words that Senator Birmingham quoted, it will return to the principles of needs-based funding that he embraced and espoused in his 2011 review but which the former Labor government never implemented but left the system in a complete mess with no fewer than 27 different funding deals. The package that Senator Birmingham announced last week will treat all students fairly. It is based entirely on the principle— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order, on my left! Senator Gallagher, on a point of order? Senator Gallagher: My point of order goes to relevance. The senator has taken one minute 30 to get to this point, but he has not got to the question, which was: has the Prime Minister spoken to the assistant minister about his conduct? That is the question that is before the senator. The PRESIDENT: The minister did answer that directly by saying he is not aware of any conversations he may or may not have had with Senator Birmingham, so the minister was relevant. Senator BRANDIS: Senator Sterle, what is the problem the Labor Party has with the idea that all Australian students should be treated fairly? Why does the Labor Party have a problem with the principle that you used to espouse, though never gave effect to, that school funding should be needs based? Why do you have a problem, as you appear to have, with the principle that school funding should be transparent? And why do you have a problem, as you appear to have, with the principle that there should be consistency of treatment across the country? (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Sterle, a supplementary question?