Gillard won't back down over Gonski

Protesters and supporters of live sheep export outside Thornlie Senior High School, in Perth's south-eastern suburbs, where Prime Minister Julia Gillard is holding a community cabinet meeting. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: PerthNow

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has warned state governments to expect no compromises at next month's Council of Australian Government Meeting (COAG), saying she is determined to come away with a deal on the Gonski education reforms.

Speaking at the community cabinet meeting in Perth, Ms Gillard said the "end game'' had been reached in the debate between the federal and state governments on the proposed reforms, and she was not about to back down.

From a surprisingly welcoming audience of around 400 people, Ms Gillard was questioned on subjects as wide ranging as the Jandakot Airport to the return of the death penalty in Australia.

But it was on the debate with the states of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the Gonski reforms that Ms Gillard showed her hard edge, saying she "deeply regretted'' not being able to roll out an NDIS scheme in WA later this year.

Asked about what impediments the WA Premier Colin Barnett had put in the way of the Gonski reforms, Ms Gillard renewed her attacks on state governments threatening to withdraw funding from schools.

"We are going to keep the dialogue open, but we are not going to put more money into schools only for state governments to take money out,'' she said.

"We are prepared to talk to get this done, but it can't be against a backdrop of states taking money out.

"We are in the end game of this now, and I am very determined to go to the COAG in April and come out with better deal for Australian children.''

Asked about the lack of co-operation from Mr Barnett on the NDIS, Ms Gillard said she did not believe there was "absence of will'' to support the scheme in WA.

"What we are arguing about is the governance structure - he does not want services governed remotely from Canberra and neither do I,'' she said.

Taking just 12 questions over 45 minutes, Ms Gillard also defended her position on the live export ban.

Flanked by ministers including Stephen Smith, Gary Gray, Kate Lundy and Mark Dreyfus, Ms Gillard fielded all but two of the questions, espousing her views on asylum seekers, the impact of a lower Newstart payment for single parents and the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Perth.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy confirmed the first homes to receive NBN coverage in Perth would be hooked up in June.

Ms Gillard will wrap-up her three-day tour of WA on Thursday morning.

Live export protests

Earlier, Ms Gillard slipped almost unnoticed past various protest groups waiting outside the community Cabinet meeting.

About 200 people in groups supporting and opposing live animal exports, as well as representatives of Vietnam veterans, lined the street outside the school, under the watchful eye of a heavy police presence.

But Ms Gillard's convoy was able to slide past the banner-waving protesters relatively unnoticed, despite fears of angry scenes on the PM's first trip west for more than four months.

Farmer Michael Trant, who runs the "Hadagutful'' protest campaign, said earlier he hoped to bring the farmer's plight to the notice of Ms Gillard.

"We want to make the PM aware of the problem WA farmers are facing since the new live exports regulation came in,'' he said.

"We are sick and tired of being knocked about because a few bad images get put across the media.

"We can't compete with an image of a cow getting its throat cut wrong. No-one likes that.

"Hopefully we can throw a few questions and some assurances something will happen shortly or it is not going to be pretty.''

The opposing view was put by Stop Live Exports rally organiser Katrina Love.

"We are in vehement opposition to live exports and we want to remind the PM that the majority of Australians are in favour of a phase out of live exports,'' Ms Love said.

"It is not about us versus them (the farmers) - both of us are directing our complaints to the government.''

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Gillard says WA Gonski claims 'nonsense'

IN TOWN: PM Julia Gillard visits Kolbe Catholic College, where she met with senior students and called for a three per cent rise in school spending. Picturre: AAP Source: PerthNow

IN TOWN: PM Julia Gillard visits Kolbe Catholic College, where she met with senior students and called for a three per cent rise in school spending. Picturre: AAP Source: PerthNow

IN TOWN: PM Julia Gillard visits Kolbe Catholic College, where she met with senior students and called for a three per cent rise in school spending. Picturre: AAP Source: PerthNow

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett is talking "nonsense'' in claiming Gonski education reforms are a power grab by Canberra, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.

In WA for the first time since state Labor's pummelling at the state election, Ms Gillard was again not met by state Labor leader Mark McGowan, who was on annual leave as the prime minister ironically visited his electorate of Rockingham.

She was instead welcomed by stand-in leader Roger Cook and toured a local Catholic school before being quizzed by students on the future of the country - and by reporters on why she failed to come west prior to the March 9 poll.

She said she understood that Mr McGowan, who ran a very good campaign, had always intended to take leave with his family after the election.

The break was well deserved, she said.

Ms Gillard also hit back at Mr Barnett's warning to the federal government during the WA election campaign that he had no intention of handing over money and authority for education to Canberra.

"Why would you trust education in the commonwealth's hands when they can't even decide who should be prime minister?'' Mr Barnett said.

But Ms Gillard dismissed that as a line being fed to the WA public by a political opponent, not an accurate representation of the intent of the Gonksi reforms.

"Here in WA I know that people have been told that this is a takeover of schools and we are going to try and run these schools from Canberra,'' Ms Gillard said.

"All of that is of course, nonsense.

"States would continue to be the drivers of education in state schools and the public school system.

"Our drive here is not for a national uniform model, but for a nationally consistent model.''

Ms Gillard's office made no approach for a meeting with Mr Barnett during her three-day trip, although she said her aim was for a productive relationship.

"For us it is about now working productively with premier Barnett and we will continue to do that,'' Ms Gillard said.

She also said federal Labor clearly had a lot of hard work to do ahead of the September 14 federal election.

"Each and every day we have got to strive to do better and better and better, and we will,'' Ms Gillard said.

'Commit to school spending'

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has challenged all states and territories to commit to a three per cent rise in school spending each year.

Visiting a Catholic college in Perth today, Ms Gillard said her national plan for school improvement needed the co-operation of premiers and chief ministers.

Federal education officials have been in talks with Catholic and independent school chiefs ahead of the Council of Australian Governments meeting in April which is expected to sign off on the plan.

``During all of those discussions it is becoming increasingly clear that in too many states around the nation we have seen cutbacks to funding going into schools,'' Ms Gillard told reporters.pe``Those cutbacks not only hurt directly but they actually affect the indexation funding formula for the future.

``So I've got a clear message to state governments around the nation and that is to stop the cutbacks and it's also to properly index their funding for the future. They should be offering an indexation arrangement of at least three per cent for the future.''

Ms Gillard also dismissed concerns that a Canberra-based bureaucracy would be running the school system, which varied from state to state.

``Our drive here is not for a national uniform model, but a nationally consistent model, recognising the flexibility that jurisdictions need to get on and manage their schools,'' she said.

Gillard at community Cabinet meet tomorrow

Ms Gillard and her ministers will have a community cabinet public forum at a high school in Thornlie, in Perth's south-east tomorrow.

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan is on holidays and won't be meeting with the PM but acting leader Roger Cook will be available.

During the WA state election lead-up, Ms Gillard kept her distance and did not campaign alongside Mr McGowan, who lost to incumbent premier Colin Barnett.
 

Government not surprised by poll slump

The federal government is not surprised by another slump in Labor support after what Prime Minister Julia Gillard described as an appalling week for the party.

Labor's primary vote hit 30 per cent in the latest Newspoll - four points below its result two weeks ago - while the coalition lifted six points to 50 per cent.

If an election were held now Labor would face an eight per cent swing which, based on 2010 preference flows, could cost it up to 30 seats and deliver victory to the coalition.

As well, the opinion poll showed Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had an eight-point lead over Ms Gillard as preferred prime minister.

Ms Gillard said she didn't need a poll to tell her voters were shaking their heads, given Thursday's extraordinary events which began with Simon Crean's call for a leadership spill and ended with Kevin Rudd declining to challenge.

Four senior ministers - including the sacked Mr Crean - moved to the backbench, forcing Ms Gillard to reshuffle her ministry.

``I don't need a poll to tell me that last week the Labor party had an appalling week,'' the prime minister told ABC radio on Tuesday.

``When we present to the Australian people self-indulgently, talking about ourselves, there are consequences.''
Finance Minister Penny Wong said voters indicated what they thought of the events.

``I share their view,'' she said.

Mr Abbott was in Sydney campaigning in the Labor-held marginal seat of Chifley on Tuesday.

Ms Gillard was heading to Western Australia for an education announcement, followed by a community cabinet meeting in Perth on Wednesday.

Asked if she would be governing or campaigning in WA - with recently returned its Liberal state government - Ms Gillard said she would be doing ``a series of important things''.

Meanwhile, the coalition continues to pick holes in the minority government's ministerial reshuffle.

Liberal senator George Brandis said assigning ``super ministries'' to a handful of senior MPs meant they would have double the responsibility and less time to dedicate to each task.

Bundling together trade and education, two of the ``great departments of state'', because of a lack of ``heavyweight people'' for the roles was also a mistake.

"This is what happens to an end-stage government - you just run out of people,'' Senator Brandis told Sky News.

Asked if Labor could recover its stocks with voters, new cabinet minister and WA MP Gary Gray said the party was in a similar predicament in late 1992.

Then, voters had become ``completely fascinated'' by opposition leader John Hewson and his Fightback policy, Mr Gray told ABC radio.

"What the Labor party did was retreat to its own core values, produce its own policy framework and win in 1993,'' he said. - Paul Osborne, AAP

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