MEDIA RELEASE: Malcolm Turnbull again lying on education funding

Saying the same lie over and over again does not make it true, it just makes you look foolish. Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey learned this lesson the hard way and now Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are following in their footsteps.

Today, in one of Malcolm Turnbull’s increasingly desperate press conferences, he again claimed Labor’s Gonski education reforms were unfunded. Malcolm Turnbull can say this as much as he likes, it doesn’t make it true.

In the 2013-14 Budget, Labor outlined our plan to fully fund the Gonski education reforms. It was in the Budget papers prepared by the Department of Finance and the Department of Treasury.  It was ticked off by Martin Parkinson, the then Treasury Secretary.

Source: p.15 Budget Papers 2013-14 - Education

During the 2013 election campaign, Tony Abbott claimed to be on a "unity ticket" with Labor on schools funding. The Liberal’s promised, in writing: “Liberals will match Labor’s schools funding dollar for dollar.”

If the Gonski education reforms had been unfunded, the Liberal Party would have run a huge scare campaign at the 2013 election, but they didn’t. Why? Because it wasn’t true then as it’s not true now.

We even have the bizarre situation now, where one of the measures Labor removed to pay for Gonski - the Baby Bonus - Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are trying to bring back because of a deal with the Nationals.

When Malcolm Turnbull or Scott Morrison claim Gonski was “unfunded” Australians know they’re lying, incompetent or both.

Malcolm Turnbull promised to be a Prime Minister who would respect the intelligence of Australians, instead we get more of the same Tony Abbott lies. 

In contrast, Labor has announced more than $100 billion worth of improvements to the Budget bottom-line to help fund health and education and improve the Budget position over the medium term.

APRIL 06, 2016