Govt a 'bully-boy' on private school funding bill: Fielding
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Family First Senator Steve Fielding says the Government is being a "bully" over its private school funding bill.
The Senate is expected to debate the bill, which allows for $28 billion of funding over the next four years for independent schools, today.
Senator Fielding and the Opposition say the funding should not be linked to new rules on making funding sources public and introducing a national curriculum.
He says the Government must back down on its insistence that the bill cannot be changed.
"That sounds like some bully-boy tactics that you'd use in a school yard, sort of saying you're not going to get the money unless you do this," he said.
"Why should schools have to sign up to an unseen national curriculum? We teach our kids not to sign contracts without looking at the fine print and the Rudd Government has to stop doing bully-boy tactics and come to common sense arrangements with schools."
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says the Government has not given independent schools enough information.
" I think at the very least the Government needs to provide a broad outline of what they're proposing - the time line, the processes involved in terms of the level of consultation," he said.
"I think that would give a level of comfort and certainty to the private school sector, and I think that's fair enough."
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