Senator CARR (10:52 AM) —We cannot support the amendment that the Democrats have moved to my second reading amendment. I indicate to the Senate that the opposition has expressed its very grave concern about the declining level of real funding support going to public education in this country. We have said that the brochures that were distributed by Dr Kemp this year to every school in this country—which claimed that direct funding for government schools between 1996-2000 has risen by 25 per cent or $382 million—were completely untrue.

What we said was that, if you consider the effect of cost increases since 1996, cost increases have been in the order of 12 per cent, and enrolments in schools have increased. So if you consider the amount of money that is spent against the number of people it is spent on and the effect that that money actually has in the marketplace given the rising cost of schooling, you find that the increase in government expenditure is about 100th of what Dr Kemp was claiming in the letters he sent to parents in this country. I have indicated in my second reading contribution that I will expect an explanation from the government as to how much money was actually spent on those propaganda brochures.

Dr Kemp's claim, when examined closely, indicates that only $1.50 extra is being spent on students. But if you look at it in real terms—that is, what the money actually does—then the Commonwealth funding per government school student has declined. The calculations that I have presented to the Senate suggest to me that the funding has fallen from $606 per student in 1996 to less than $598 four years later. When you look at the government's figures and get away from the glossy propaganda efforts of this government, you see that the real situation is very different for ordinary Australians, for parents who are trying to meet the costs of educating their children at government schools. The government talks about the moneys it pays to the states, and when we look at the amount of money paid in general assistance grants, here too there are no real increases in funding. The government's propaganda efforts should be exposed for the sham that they are.

Senator Allison's amendment, however, does not fix that problem. What Senator Allison's amendment relates to is a detail of a bill that is in fact not before the parliament. When we do see that bill, we will of course give a full- throated response. I see that Mr Evans is in the advisers' box today; I look forward to discussing these matters in detail with him at the estimates hearings.

In the meantime, we simply make the point that the government should be condemned for not providing an increase in government school funding which actually corresponds with the increases that they have made to the non-government sector. On the information that is in fact available to us, it probably will not be until April next year that we will see this bill that is implementing the government's major changes to school funding. So I think there is a need to examine the changes that are supposed to begin in 2001. I can guarantee the minister right now that, when he does introduce that bill, there will be a major Senate inquiry into such a fundamental change. I notice that the department officials are obviously looking forward to the prospect. I am sure that we will be able to provide them with plenty of opportunity to justify this government's decisions and to explain the gross inadequacies and inequities of this government's policies.

Schools will need time to adjust to the new arrangements. In that context, funding stability is important to them. The current funding quadrennium ends in December next year, so now that five months have passed since the budget announcement, the minister should seek to stop working on this ideological agenda in terms of higher education that has been handled so appallingly, and he should now start to focus on the more practical issues of getting the schools legislation into the parliament in time for this chamber to consider the government's proposals seriously and allow us to debate them fully.