Labor has armed itself with details of how much extra money it will give schools in every electorate as it seeks to make education the election focus.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says spending money on schools rather than giving business tax breaks is a matter of priorities - insisting his are better than the coalition's.
"That way you give people control over their own lives rather than waiting for large companies to decide whether or not they'll remit the benefit of lower taxes to foreign shareholders or provide the necessary gain for all Australians," he told ABC radio in Townsville on Tuesday.
"If you give a kid a good education that's the best start we can give any Australian in their life."
The opposition has released an electorate-by-electorate breakdown of its $3.8 billion boost to school funding in 2018 and 2019 as part of a promise to fully fund the Gonski plan.
The funding will be distributed based on need.
The Queensland seats to win the most funding include Bob Katter's seat of Kennedy ($57 million), the Liberal-held the Cairns-based seat of Leichhardt ($50 million) and the Townsville seat of Herbert ($48 million).
In NSW, much of the money goes to western Sydney seats, with Labor-held Fowler getting $52 million and Werriwa $46 million while the marginal Liberal seat of Lindsay gets $46 million.
Similarly in Victoria, the two biggest winners are the outer-Melbourne suburban electorates of Lalor ($35 million) and Holt ($34 million), both held by Labor.
The rural seat of Mallee, held by the Nationals would get $33 million.
"Regardless of what postcode a child lives in, regardless of how wealthy their parents are, regardless of how big or small the school is, Labor wants to make sure that each school is at an adequate level of resources to generate excellent academic outcomes," Mr Shorten said.
The government has said it will give schools an extra $1.2 billion from 2018 to 2020.
EXTRA SCHOOL FUNDING ON OFFER FROM LABOR
* NSW $1.4 billion
* VIC $815 million
* QLD $725m
* SA $355m
* WA $330m
* NT $100m
* TAS $60m
* ACT $25m
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