Malcolm Turnbull has proven he has his priorities wrong if he thinks he can foster a clever country by cutting $3.8 billion from universities, while planning to loan $1 billion to Adani for a useless coalmine.

“It is ludicrous to think Malcolm Turnbull wants to lend money to Adani for a coalmine that no-one wants, no questions asked, yet he is pinching pennies when it comes to building a clever country.

The Australian Greens will refer the Government’s education legislation to a senate inquiry when parliament returns next week, to ensure the proposed changes get the best outcome for the public school system.

“We need to cut through the political game-playing and make sure these changes are properly considered,” Greens education spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“While Labor and the Liberals bicker over how much money the Catholic school system would get under these changes, only the Greens are determined to get the best outcome for public schools.

Schools funding in Australia needs to be reformed to reflect a genuine needs based model, but that can’t be done by cutting funding across the country, the Australian Greens have said in response to today’s announcement from the government.

“We'll look at the detail of this announcement, but what we know is that Australia’s school funding system is broken,” the Greens’ education spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“It's time our children's education was prioritised in Australia. It’s a sad reality that many of our kids are being left behind.

The Australian Greens will vote against the Government’s assault on students and young people in its cruel university funding model.

“By investing less in education and more in coal, this Government is screwing over Australian students and young people, yet again,” Greens education spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens have pledged to use their power in the Parliament to protect Australia's higher education sector from any further funding cuts ahead of the Turnbull government's budget in May. 

"We are putting the Government on notice that we will not accept any more nasty cuts to our universities and tertiary institutions," Greens education and finance spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens are calling on the NAPLAN testing model to be reviewed following the latest flaw, a failed online roll-out, and reports that testing causes anxiety among students.

The Australian Greens have slammed the Government’s plans to hit university students with higher fees and force graduates to pay their HELP/HECS back on a much lower income in a move that will price young people from low income families out of a university education.

The Australian Greens stand in solidarity with the thousands of childcare workers striking this afternoon to highlight the low wages they receive for the important task of providing care and education to Australian children.

“Early childhood educators are grossly underpaid for the valuable work they do. They teach, nurture and guide children in one of the most important phases of their learning life,” Greens education spokesperson Senator Hanson-Young said.

The Senate has called on Federal Education Minister to explain which South Australian schools are set to suffer as a result of the 2018 Gonski funding cliff, following an Australian Greens motion passing this afternoon.

“Schools across South Australia set to lose out on $335 million in funding as the Government carelessly heads toward the Gonski funding cliff next year. Education Minister Simon Birmingham needs to face up to the fact that schools in his state will face losing teachers and programs,” Australian Greens education spokesperson Senator Hanson-Young said.

While it is welcome to see some honesty around the over-funding of some of the wealthiest private schools, we need real action to put fairness into schools funding, The Australian Greens say.

“It’s high time this Government talked seriously about cutting funds to grossly over-funded private schools only the richest of the rich can send their children to, but part of that conversation needs to seriously focus on a fair funding model for all Australian schools,” Greens education spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.