GONSKI EDUCATION REVIEW

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:22): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. How is the minister going to fund South Australia's contribution to the 'power of Gonski review' given her statement to budget estimates this year in relation to funding for the Gonski review, and I quote:

There is no figure in our budget as there was no figure in the federal government's budget.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (15:23): It is with enormous pleasure that I answer this question. So, let us go back to budget estimates. The commonwealth was yet to put their position on the table but what the member for Unley would have me do is declare our position: here is our money, that is how the feds—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: The commonwealth back then had not declared its position.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: The commonwealth government had not put a figure in their budget. Now that does not mean that we are not committed to progressing Gonski but, in good time, and we needed to see commitment from the commonwealth. We will now go back to the commonwealth and, with our colleagues in other states, negotiate a way forward. Let us not forget that in South Australia we already spend a significant amount of money. The Education and Child Development spend is more than $3 billion and education is the bulk of that, so we already spend significant amounts of money. We are looking forward to setting negotiating parameters, etc. We were able to do this very successfully with the NDIS. So we have succeeded in negotiating major policy issues that cut across states and territories and the commonwealth.