Tanya Plibersek has promised Labor will restore every dollar that has been cut from Catholic and public schools, adding an extra $17bn into the education system on top of the Turnbull government’s newly passed $23bn Gonski 2.0 funding package.

This would mean restoring the Labor model, which provides extra funding to Catholic education, after the sector committed to campaign against the Coalition before the next election.

“We say this is a $17bn cut,” Plibersek told Sky News. “We have committed to restoring every dollar of the funding that has been cut. That means a better deal for public schools and Catholic systemic schools and the other systemic schools.”

The shadow education minister said schools would get the $17bn extra in funding irrespective of the budget situation.

Questioned on how a Labor government would pay for the extra $17bn, Plibersek said the Coalition had not outlined how it would pay for its company tax cuts – which are worth $65bn over a decade – whereas Labor had already outlined $170bn worth of savings before the last election.

She said Labor had already identified $30bn in savings over 10 years under its policy to wind back negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions alone. Labor has also committed to reintroduce the temporary deficit levy on people earning more than $180,000, which is due to be removed on 1 July.

Plibersek said people should not assume Labor would raise taxes to cover the extra schools funding. But she refused to say whether Labor would overturn the company taxs for small and medium businesses with a turnover of less than $50m, which passed earlier this year.

“We’ve identified other savings beyond our opposition to company savings,” Plibersek said. “We’ll make full announcement well before the next election.”



She said Labor would continue to fight the new school funding system, which will be implemented from the 2018 school year.



“The existing arrangements [in the] Australia education act and the deal with the states is what we are judging against and, judging against that, it is a $22bn cut,” Plibersek said. “That was the government’s own description. The extra $5bn that was wrung out of then makes it a $17bn cut.”