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Tasmania slams Pyne 'broken promise'

Tasmania's education minister has joined those slamming the backflip by the federal government's Christopher Pyne on school funding reforms.

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Source: AAP


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Tasmania's education minister has accused federal counterpart Christopher Pyne of one of Australian history's biggest broken election promises.

Greens minister Nick McKim has slammed Mr Pyne's claim of a $1.2 billion shortfall in the previous Labor government's school funding reforms.

"This is an outrage perpetrated on Australia's most disadvantaged students, on their parents and on their schools," Mr McKim told reporters in Hobart.

Mr McKim said the federal government's attempt to blame former education minister and new ALP leader Bill Shorten for the shortfall did not stack up.

"That's an attempt by Mr Pyne to cover up one of the biggest broken electoral promises in the country's history with one of the flimsiest of political fig leaves," the Tasmanian Greens leader said.

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Mr McKim said all options would be on the table for Tasmania, including the possibility of a court challenge after the state signed a heads of agreement worth $380 million with former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

"We'll be taking all kinds of advice over the next couple of days but we will fight Mr Pyne hard on this as I know other states have indicated," Mr McKim said.

"He's got some serious explaining to do here because he was abundantly clear before the election that he would honour the first four years and the people quite legitimately took that to mean $2.8 billion."

Earlier, Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings slammed Mr Pyne's comment that Labor had left a "shambles" as a "cynical twist".

"We have a heads of agreement that has been signed," Ms Giddings said.

"That (was) the deal when I shook the hand of the prime minister of this nation and made that agreement."


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