2016-03-31
The Australian Greens say Prime Minister Turnbull has now put public school funding in the too-hard-basket, along with health
"Instead of having the courage to raise the revenue we need to pay for quality schools and hospitals, the Liberals are handing all their responsibilities over to the states," said Greens Leader Richard Di Natale.
"The suggestion that the federal government may not provide any funding for public schools is an extraordinary abandonment of one of the government's key responsibilities.
"Malcolm Turnbull has got a void where he should have a vision for the shared goals a well-funded public education system could achieve for the entire country," Senator Di Natale said.
Greens education spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said: "The Prime Minister is basically trying to wash his hands of responsibility for public education."
"All he will achieve is a further entrenchment of inequity in Australia by legislating a very different set of opportunities for the haves compared to the have-nots."
"Mr Turnbull has decided to pit states and education systems against one another when we should all be working together to deliver the best education for all our kids."
"It's a recipe for class warfare, and as far from the Gonski principles as it is possible to get."
"This is an extraordinary abandonment of public education and the principles of our Federation that have stood for decades."