Greens warn of education budget black hole

"Next week's budget needs to be a budget for the future, and that means and education budget and an environment budget," Senator Nettle said.

"If Mr Costello doesn't announce a multi billion dollar boost in education funding this budget he ought to be sacked, and the public will sack him at the coming election.

"The most convincing evidence that the Howard government have lost their economic credentials is that there is no indication that education will get the investment that even peak business groups are now calling for.

"To re-position Australia's economy for the challenges of this century we need to massively boost public investment in education, from pre-school to university.

"Tackling the threat of catastrophic climate change must include a commitment to a being a clever country, to being innovators in developing the new ways of living that Australians must embrace to thrive in new conditions.

"The Greens have called for a $7bn annual injection of federal money which would lift government spending on education in Australia to around the average for OECD countries public expenditure on education.

Contact - Jon Edwards  0428 213 146