Media reports today expose the Turnbull Governments plan to cut funding to all of the Northern Territories Government schools.

Under the Turnbull schools policy, all 151 Government schools across the NT will lose funding because they have been classified as overfunded.

The Liberals must be the only people in Australia who think Northern Territory public schools, on average the nations most disadvantaged, are overfunded.

We regularly visit schools around the Northern Territory and know thegreat work of students, teachers and principals. Those schools deserve proper funding.

More than 40 per cent of students in NT schools are Indigenous. The 2017 Closing the Gap report shows that none of the eight literacy and numeracy targets were on track. The gap will never close without adequate schools funding.

In government, Labor introduced needs-based funding, providing the resources needed to close the equity and achievement gaps in Australian schools.

Labor plans to target school funding to where the needs are greatest. We will continue to defend schools from cuts because we dont believe that the neediest school systems, like the Northern Territory, should suffer the big cuts the government is proposing.

Under Malcolm Turnbulls plan, inequality will only grow.

When will the Turnbull Government understand that investing in schools is one of the smartest things we can do as a nation.