Senator PAYNE (New South Wales—Minister for Human Services) (14:20): I thank the senator for her question. What I am most definitely able to promise—to the sector but most particularly to Australian students, Australian parents and Australian teachers—is that we will fund schools in every state and territory of Australia, which is in fact— Senator Cameron: Is that a core or a non-core promise! The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Cameron, it is not your question. Senator Wright is entitled to hear the answer to her question. Senator PAYNE: As I was saying, we will fund schools in every state and territory of Australia. That is the most important difference between the so-called national funding model put forward by the previous government and this truly national model. As the Prime Minister and the minister indicated this afternoon at their press conference, the minister has been consulting across the states and territories since the election because he was always concerned about the importance of funding certainty for next year. Now we do have agreement from those states which were discarded by the previous government. Not only were they discarded but so were their students, and that has been a matter of significant concern for the minister since the election. As well as the funding model which has been confirmed and announced today, we are now able to focus on further important things in education but most particularly quality and standards, those sorts of things that will enable more principal and parent control in schools, that will enable— Senator Wright: Mr President, I raise a point of order. I did not ask about the funding across the states and territories. The question was actually about whether or not it would be sector blind and needs based. The minister, with respect, has not answered my question. The PRESIDENT: The minister is addressing the question. The minister still has 29 seconds remaining to address the question. There is no point of order. Senator PAYNE: Most importantly, the government is keeping its commitments on school funding. We are delivering more funding over the next four years than was promised by the previous Labor government. We will also honour funding which was promised to non-government representative bodies for four years, including the funding announced for the Catholic Education Commission and the funding announced to the Association of Independent Schools. This consistency in the commitments that were made and the announcement that was made has been confirmed by the Prime Minister— (Time expired)