After so much weakness and incompetence from Education Minister Jason Clare over Labor’s school funding war, declining academic standards, the chaos with international students which is fueling our housing crisis and campus antisemitism, Mr Clare has now resorted to pushing out a host of Labor lies.
In an interview on Sky News with Andrew Clennell this morning, he made a number of false or misleading claims.
Shadow Minister for Education Sarah Henderson said school students are falling further behind their international peers, school discipline is deteriorating, and Labor is encouraging activism rather than making common sense improvements to the school curriculum.
“It is no wonder Jason Clare has resulted to pushing falsehoods with one in three children failing to meet basic proficiency levels in reading, writing and maths,” Senator Henderson said.
“The average Year 10 student is one year behind in his or her learning compared with two decades ago.
“School attendance has plummeted under the Albanese government.”
The Coalition is determined to get back to basics by focusing on explicit instruction and other evidence-based teaching methods which prioritise reading, writing, maths and science.
False and misleading claims peddled by Jason Clare on Sky News today included:
False claim:
Clennell: “…This means there is a full plan to fund government schools by 2034… is this actually going to happen?”
Clare: “It will because of the agreements we have now stuck.”
Truth:
“Negotiations with jurisdictions who are yet to sign Bilateral Agreements are continuing.”
2025-26 Budget, Paper 2, Page 37
Misleading claim:
Clare: “They [the Coalition] also cut funding to schools, to public schools…”
Truth:
Commonwealth school funding nearly doubled from $13 billion in 2013 to $25.3 billion in 2022, underpinned by a needs-based model.
False claim:
Clare: Peter Dutton blew his credibility on immigration when he voted against it (student caps).
Truth:
While the Opposition announced it would oppose Labor’s foreign students cap scheme, Labor botched this policy so much that it withdrew its legislation from the Senate denying the Parliament the opportunity to vote on the scheme.
Misleading claim:
Clare: The number of visa applications from international students today is about 30% lower than it was a year ago and that’s because of the changes we are making.
Truth:
The number of international students in Australia continues to rise. Department of Education data shows that in April 2022, shortly before the Coalition left office, there were 463,171 student visa holders in Australia. On the most recent data available from the department (as at 31 December 2024), there are now 853,045 student visa holders in Australia, which has increased 8.8 per cent since December 2023.