The following is the text of a press release issued by Model-Trask, leader of the Socialist Party:

For almost 5 months now our public education system has been in deep crisis. The current Prime Minister, Griffonomics, moved a high court case which resulted in the Australian Education Amendment (Education Reform) Act being struck down as unconstitutional. In this statement I will not dwell on the high court's decision; everyone with two brain cells to rub together knows it was a deeply misguided move which has caused unprecedented problems in our public schools and established an outlandish precedent on federal funding for private religious institutions.

Instead we will focus on the crisis facing our schools. The result of the High Court's decision was public schools being stripped overnight of billions in funding, capital grants for new buildings and infrastructure evaporating, and school staff receiving an immediate 25 percent wage cut. In response, the newly elected CPA government of 12MaxWild chose to spend a 4 month term of office doing absolutely nothing to address the crisis. They concocted a shoddy and nonsensical piece of legislation called the Education Equality Bill which they didn't even bother to fund in their own budget. I will talk about that Bill and why it has done more harm than good later.

It is high time that serious measures be put in place to address this crisis. That is why today I have moved two pieces of legislation in the Senate which will tackle the problem head on.

The first is a bill repealing the Education Equality Act. There are a variety of reasons why this is eminently necessary: The act contravenes and contradicts established funding arrangements laid out in the Australian Education Act. If it is not repealed, there is no clarity on federal education funding arrangements. The act does not account for the loss of capital grants funding, meaning halted construction cannot go ahead. The act does not include funding loading for students with disability, Aboriginal students, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The act does not properly adjust funding for inflation. The act has yet to be properly funded for in a budget, with the CPA failing to include it in their budget estimates. The act delivers significantly less money (3 thousand dollars per student) for primary students than the previous funding arrangement did.

I have moved a second piece of legislation to replace the Education Equality Act when it is hopefully repealed. This is the Australian Education Amendment (Education Funding) Bill.

This Bill uses the framework of the Australian Education Act to restore funding levels to what they were before the High Court decision. Unlike that funding arrangement, it does so for all school students in Australia, not just public school students. This will deliver the highest levels of federal education funding in Australian history, a logical consequence of trying to ensure proper education funding while having to operate within the legal decision reached by the High Court. In addition the bill restores the 25 percent pay rise for public school staff, restores the 300 million in capital grants funding, and properly indexes all funding for inflation.

The Liberal-Nationals under Griffonomics cried foul about the Education Reform stripping federal funding from private schools, claiming this was "religious discrimination." The High Court, staffed with a single hard-right judge, made the catastrophic decision of caving into their demands.

Well, now they have to live with the consequences. Schools are in crisis, and have been for almost half a year. If their true aim was to prevent religious discrimination then they should have no problem supporting this bill, which delivers MORE funding to private religious schools than any other previous funding arrangement and ensures private religious schools receive as much funding as public schools!

This is a political compromise I am more than willing to make. Whether private schools also benefit is immaterial. Our public schools need to be funded properly. Our public school teachers need to be paid properly. Our schools need capital grants funding. This bill does that.

It also gives the Liberal-Nationals everything that they claim to want. The ball is now in their court. I give this simple message to the new government: support this entirely sensible compromise which ensures all students receive proper funding, OR reject it, abandon all pretence of working for the betterment of Australian schools and admit your opposition to the Education Reform was never based on concerns over religious freedom. I hope the Prime Minister and the Government make the right choice.

- Model-Trask, Leader of the Socialist Party of Australia, Senator for Western Australia.