Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I propose to not take five minutes so that the Assistant Minister for Education will have the opportunity to respond on childcare issues. I am hoping the member for Adelaide will regard that as a helpful proposal because if she speaks again that means that the assistant minister will not get the opportunity to respond at all.

The shadow minister asked about Youth Connections. Youth Connections was a program that had 74 per cent of its participants aged under 17. It is therefore the responsibility of the states and territories to provide that kind of assistance that Youth Connections provided. It was duplicating effort. There are lots of great programs, Commonwealth programs, state programs and territory programs but it is not the Commonwealth's responsibility to provide them all. The states and territories have to take responsibility for the things that are their area of responsibility.

Too often the great chasm between Labor and Liberal is shown up in just this kind of example where, in Labor's world, the Commonwealth should pay for and do everything. If they have to borrow the money from overseas, they have no problem with that. In the Conservative Liberal and Nationals parties' world, we need to live within our means and we need to pay back the debt. Areas that are properly the responsibility of the states and territories should be delivered by the states and territories. That goes for the school chaplaincy program as well.

The school chaplaincy program was initiated by the Howard government. It was a chaplaincy program. When the Labor Party came to office there was quite a tussle between Julia Gillard as the then Minister for Education and the Prime Minister at the time, Mr Rudd. Mr Rudd supported the chaplaincy program. Julia Gillard opposed the chaplaincy program. She wanted to kill the chaplaincy program. Kevin Rudd saved the chaplaincy program. The compromise between these two individuals was that it would be expanded to welfare officers and counsellors. Welfare officers and counsellors in schools are quite properly the domain of state and territory governments. Now that we are in government, we have returned the chaplaincy program to which original intention, which is a chaplaincy program.

If states and territories want to continue to fund welfare officers and counsellors then they are perfectly at liberty to do so. I would welcome them doing so but that is a decision that they should make and not be infantilised by the Commonwealth making these decisions on their behalf. I will end on that note and allow the Assistant Minister for Education the opportunity to respond.

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