Education Funding

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (14:33): Supplementary: without asking the minister to comment on the name of the document or the document itself, is she familiar with the strategy that is comprised in that document launched by the member for Wright in 2013?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:34): Absolutely, I am familiar with it. I can confirm whether we have done any supplementary updates to it, but we have had a literacy and numeracy strategy in place for some time. Subsequent to the launch of that document we have had the results plus framework in the last couple of years and now we will be introducing this additional strategy.

It is as if the opposition thinks that you can say, 'It is terrible to talk about money, You don't need more money,' but also criticise our results. Schools cost money, and doing more work in schools costs more money. Of course, that's not the end of the story. Of course, it's about how we spend the money, hence the independent expert panel that we are putting together. Of course, it's about how you spend it, but there is no point in thinking about how to spend it if you are not going to stand up and get the money.

We have had to stand up against the federal government to claw back some of the money that they tried to rip out of the education system. We have done that alone, as a lone voice in this state within politics. Thank God we have had the community on our side.