Senator HUTCHINS (7:10 PM) —An interesting debate occurred in the House of Representatives this afternoon that I think will have a profound effect on the future of the member for Parramatta, Mr Ross Cameron. This debate followed a series of questions asked of the Prime Minister concerning the government's obsession to provide extra funding to the nation's wealthiest schools or, as the Prime Minister put it in August this year, that the new system was designed to:

What we have learnt is that the great divide that this government has perpetrated in almost every aspect of people's lives, whether affecting their health, their workplace, or their entertainment, now is going to be visited upon our children.

Why do I say that it will affect the future of the member for Parramatta, Mr Ross Cameron? We learnt today in the House of Representatives—and it was not and has not been challenged—that probably the most elite school in this country, the Kings School at Parramatta, is on the new funding formula proposed by the government. It will receive an extra $1,351 per pupil by the year 2004. Can you believe that this school, which charges $11,595 a year for day students and advertises on the web that it offers the following facilities: 15 cricket fields, five basketball courts, 12 tennis courts, a 50-metre swimming pool, a gym, two climbing walls, indoor rifle range, 13 rugby fields, three soccer fields, a cross-country course and a boat shed, could in any way be—to quote the Prime Minister—`more deserving of assistance'? Would not our Lady of Mercy College, in the heart of Parramatta, qualify under this criteria of the Prime Minister? You might think so; but, no, they will receive no extra funding at all, because the Prime Minister has already told them that they have already `won, won, won'.

I challenge the member for Parramatta to go to the parents of those students and say to them, `A school less than six kilometres away, which asks $11,595 for day students, is entitled to a 40 per cent increase in government assistance—and you are supposed to be less deserving! Your school, which does not have a sporting field or a pool, must be less deserving of assistance than the Kings School six kilometres away, which has 15 cricket fields, 12 tennis courts and a swimming pool and which is entitled to a 40 per cent increase in government assistance—and you are less deserving!' I also challenge the member for Parramatta, Mr Cameron, to front the parents of our Lady of Lebanon, with no playing fields, and tell them that they are less deserving than a school less than 10 kilometres from them that has 15 cricket fields and 13 rugby fields.

I challenge the member for Parramatta to present himself to the parents of Parramatta High School, whose children's school, under this proposal, will receive only $4,000 for a school that has an enrolment of 740 students, a school that has no fields, no basketball courts and no performing arts or drama area. Yet it is less than seven kilometres away from a school that has all those facilities and more and is to receive an additional $1,351 per student. Once again, the students of Parramatta High are not as deserving as, say, the Kings—the primate of the category 1 schools in Australia. These are questions for which I know that angry parents will be demanding answers of Mr Cameron. Will he front them? I will be interested to hear whether he does front them and what he has to say to them. We already know how Mr Cameron voted on this issue. He will have to go and front these parents, who I am sure will be quite angry, and he will have to justify to them the actions he has taken in supporting this decision, which I believe is mean and ideological.

There will be more debate on this issue in the coming session of parliament. The bill will be coming up for us to debate. I sat on the committee and listened to the submissions from a variety of groups. In my short time in parliament I have sat on a number of committees and there are a lot of interest groups and people pushing their own barrows, but I have never seen so much interest as that shown in this issue from a wide spectrum of the community. People are obviously concerned about the education of their children. They want that education carried out correctly. They want government assistance to make sure that all the opportunities are there for their children. Unfortunately, the decision of the government in this legislation has been ideological and mean-spirited. Over the coming months and before the next election, coalition MPs will be called to account for their actions. If they are not made accountable in their electorates over the next few months they can surely bet that we will make them accountable at the next election.