Labor fires shot in education war with $14b promise

Labor has fired another shot in the education wars, promising an extra $14 billion over ten years, and $3 billion in the first three years, restoring funding for public schools.

The Opposition sees education as a key election issue and is upping the ante, drawing from its war chest to outbid the Coalition.

It comes with strings attached, with the states expected to lift their own spending and meet performance targets.

Labor’s promise is on top of the $27 billion already committed by the Morrison Government for both public and private schools over the decade.

It’d be funded by cutting tax concessions that it claims benefit the wealthy, and has been costed by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office.

The extra $14 billion would be the equivalent of 13,000 additional teachers or 23,000 teacher aides.

“No policy is more important than education for our kids,” Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said.

“I want to see every Australian child get a quality education.

“Kids will get more choice. There’ll be more support in the classroom.

“We need to send a message to Scott Morrison not to short change kids in public education.”

He said the funding would allow would give children more individual attention, and more help with the basics of reading, writing, maths, and science, and offer a broader range of subjects.

States would be required to sign up to a national plan to improve schools with clear goals and ambitions, and invest in their own schools.

The Prime Minister said Mr Shorten had “committed to $14 billion of higher taxes”.

“Every time you see Bill Shorten’s lips moving, promising to splash money around, understand you’re paying for it,” Scott Morrison said.

“He is increasing your taxes. So that’s at least $14 billion in extra taxes.

“We know he is going to pull around 200 and more billion dollars of higher taxes over the next ten years.”