Page 1093 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2016
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stripping $57 billion out of Australia’s health system. I am pleased to advise the Assembly that the vigorous defence of our hospitals by every state and territory leader—
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! You have got the opportunity to ask supplementaries.
MR BARR: Except for the Canberra Liberals whom I do note are the only state or territory party anywhere in the country now who appear to be defending the $57 billion cut. I am pleased that this was supported across the partisan divide at a state and territory level, with the notable exception of the Canberra Liberals. This was rewarded at the meeting even with a short-term, bandaid fix. The COAG agreement, the Prime Minister putting forward some more funding and increasing the commonwealth’s offer, has restored some $50 million or thereabouts to the ACT health system of the $250 million that was cut in the period of the agreement. It goes a small way to rectifying what still remains a challenging situation.
I was also pleased with the outcome of the COAG discussion around education responsibilities. As I said in the press conference and as I have said on numerous occasions afterwards, the commonwealth’s attempt to off-load all responsibility for public schools to the states and territories and to just fund private schools was a disastrous proposition. Simply, it would have led to a completely inequitable system running parallel public and private systems, one in the hands of the states and the territories and the other controlled by the commonwealth. To have gone down this path would have entrenched educational disadvantage in regional, poorer areas of this country.
Of course we still have a fight ahead of us to restore the $30 billion that was stripped from Australian schools, an average of $3.2 million per school. I, together with the other state and territory leaders, will continue to argue for what the Prime Minister tried to laugh off in the press conference as “the full Gonski”. I do not think that not properly funding our schools is much of a laughing matter.
I was also disappointed by the haphazard approach taken by the commonwealth at COAG in relation to potential taxation reforms. To attempt to outline far-reaching tax changes to the media before premiers and chief ministers, to float ideas two days before a meeting and then provide no supporting papers at all, certainly was to condemn particular proposals to certain failure. Whilst I do not support different rates of income tax across different jurisdictions I also do not like proposals being dumped on the doorstep in morning newspapers, positions being formed on sketchy information and ideas rejected before we had even had the opportunity to properly discuss them.
At least we could agree on further examination of options for revenue sharing, because that will better support the essential services that states and territories deliver. One thing all leaders could agree on—and this was pleasing—was that we need to take every step to ensure children can safely attend school or other institutions. (Time expired.)
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