Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is what it is, I am sure! It is most important that people in my constituency are recognised for their efforts. There is paperwork involved in applying for these schemes. It takes community effort. Typically, when you go to the school, you find that the P&C members and the local authorities have been there, all making contributions. I always thank the volunteers in my electorate because typically, and throughout the community, the contribution of we politicians, with the cash of the taxpayers, pales into insignificance when you look at the personal effort that is being contributed to all of these schemes.

The foundation of it is initiatives of this nature by the government which put the cash up. That is frequently so difficult for people in all communities, but particularly in rural communities, to find. They will give of their time. They will come in with their trucks. They will come in with their front-end loaders. They will do all of those things for their community. But, if they have to write a cheque, the bank manager has a bit of a say in that. Frequently that is very difficult.

I just wanted to make those points about a component of this funding. I could not close without further speaking to the other factor here—that is, the record of the Howard government and its contribution to the state government school sector in particular over and above its GST contributions and the others that I have mentioned. The record is that, since 1996, the Australian government has continued its trend of providing increased funding for school education each year. In 2006-07, nearly $9.3 billion will be provided in funding for both state government and non-government schools, representing a $760 million or 8.9 per cent increase in funding over last year, and a 158.2 per cent increase in funding since 1996.

The member for Prospect said that we were falling behind in real terms. Unless I have missed it, the last time I saw the CPI figure it was running at around four per cent and we have just had an increase of 8.9 per cent. My arithmetic is not bad. I did not have to get the OBE treatment when I was at school. We repeated the tables until we knew them. I can still add a row of figures quicker than anybody can do it on a calculator and I thought that was not a bad way to teach kids, to be honest. I did not object, in hindsight, to the bloke that used to give me a hiding about twice a week at Perth Boys School for well-deserved punishment.

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