Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to be able to speak in the House of Representatives today on this very important bill. I support the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment Bill 2007 very strongly. I commend it very much to all members of the House, because this is a bill which will bring into the schools around the country some $181 million. Education is something that is very important to all Australians. It is particularly important to the mums, dads and grandparents of Ryan, because education really is so critical to the development of their children and their grandchildren. I am very pleased to speak on this very important bill.

I might draw to the attention of the House the fact that the Ryan electorate has the second highest concentration of educational institutions of all the 150 federal electoral divisions. That is something I am very pleased about. The Ryan electorate has 32 primary schools, eight secondary schools, including the Queensland Academy of Science, Mathematics and Technology, and of course, I would contend, Australia’s premier tertiary institution, the University of Queensland, of which I am very proud to be a graduate.

Education is one of the very significant priority issues for the Howard government. As a father of an eight-month-old son, I certainly now look at education with a different perspective, being someone who one day will be the parent of a young child at primary school, a child at secondary school and, indeed, I hope, perhaps one day, the father of a young man at university. So I am not only speaking as the federal member for Ryan but as a citizen and taxpayer of this country. This sort of bill is very close to my heart—and I know I speak for all parents in the Ryan electorate—because it delivers funding to key projects and key programs in the Ryan electorate.

I want to point out that the Ryan electorate has benefited to the tune of almost $4 million since this tremendous program, Investing in Our Schools, was brought into being. Almost $4 million has been provided across 43 projects, covering some 30 schools in the Ryan electorate. As the local federal member, it is something about which I am very proud. I also want to talk about the nature of school funding generally and the allocation of funds in Queensland, because I think it is important for Australians to know about it. Some $27 million will be allocated for state government schools and $54 million for non-government schools. When this fourth round is complete under the Investing in Our Schools Program, the total of funding for schools across the country will be $1.2 billion—such a huge amount of money really boggles the mind. The allocation represents a commitment by the Howard government to support those schools that rely on government funding while also respecting the right of parents to choose a non-government school for their children and their expectation that this should not preclude their children from receiving support from the government. Funding will also be targeted to ensure that those schools and those children who have not yet received the full benefit of this program will be prioritised. Government schools that have so far received less than $100,000 will be able to apply in this additional round, and non-government schools will only be allowed to apply for funding of up to $75,000.

It is important to note that state schools are currently under the same financial restraints as other schools and that all schools and all children receive as much of the slice of this funding pie as possible. Between 2005 and 2008, through the Investing in Our Schools Program, the government will provide the biggest investment ever in Australian schools by a federal government. Some $33 billion will be distributed across the schools of our country. Overall funding to Australian schools has increased by 160 per cent since the Howard government was elected in 1996—from $3.5 billion per year to $9.3 billion in 2006-07. All this talk we hear from the opposition that they are the party of education, that they somehow have a monopoly on education, that they are somehow the exclusive repository of wisdom, that they know the best way forward for our kids and that they know how to look after the educational priorities of our schoolchildren is sheer nonsense. The record of the government speaks for itself. The funding speaks for itself. The Howard government can be very proud of its contribution to educational development at all levels in this country. We know full well how important education is to the development of a young person at primary school, at high school and at university or other institutions.

In 2006-07, the Howard government increased its funding to state schools by an average of 11 per cent while, at the same time, Labor governments only increased their funding by 4.9 per cent. I think that the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training certainly deserves lots of bouquets for pointing out that the federal government has been doing the heavy lifting in this area and the state governments should really hang their heads in shame. Let us not forget about the GST—and I always like to note that the Queensland Labor Premier was the first to sign on the dotted line for the GST—and the fact that every single dollar of the GST goes to state and territory governments. Not one single dollar stays in consolidated revenue. It is high time the states spent this huge amount of money on the schools, particularly in Queensland.

I think it is an indictment of the Queensland government’s record in this area when you look at a school like Mount Crosby at Karana Downs, where I had the pleasure a few weeks ago of taking the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon. Pat Farmer. They were absolutely livid that their kids were sweltering in classrooms and demountables that did not have air conditioning. I think it is astonishing in this day and age that a Queensland government has failed to provide funding for air conditioning to a school like Mount Crosby at Karana Downs. As I have said previously, it is remarkable that the national government has to find funds to make up for the sheer neglect and disregard of the state governments and provide simple things like shade structures and air conditioning in schools. They are negligent in providing the basics such as toilet facilities and showers at swimming complexes in schools.

At the end of the day, the national government should focus on the absolute fundamentals of national security, defence, foreign affairs and immigration—key areas where one would expect a national government to focus. Such is the sheer neglect and incompetence of state and territory governments that the Howard government has had to step in to fill the void. Whilst we will always look after our schools, it is also incumbent upon members of the government to point out in no uncertain terms that the state governments ought to hang their heads in shame. I will continue to point that out because when parents of students such as those at Karana Downs and parents of students at schools such as Kenmore and Centenary say to me that they need extra funds for little projects, that they are not getting support from the state government, that says something very much about the state government and their priorities.

To return to the Mount Crosby school: the principal, Sue Phillips, said to me that in her time at the school neither the Queensland Premier nor any Queensland education minister had visited Mount Crosby primary school. No Queensland Labor government official had ever visited the school. That was a revelation to me. I think it is high time the Queensland education minister went out to Karana Downs and to Mount Crosby school, saw for himself the terrible state of the demountables—the terrible state of the classrooms there and the way the kids are packed in like sardines, sitting in sweltering heat—and provided the funds for much needed air conditioning.

As I said, the Ryan electorate has benefited to the tune of almost $4 million for 43 Ryan projects across 30 Ryan schools. I want to take the opportunity to speak in the parliament on some of those projects because it will reinforce even further the sentiments I have just touched on. Take, for example, Chapel Hill State School, which received $150,000 for shade structures, for its classrooms and for play equipment. I had the great pleasure of visiting that school to speak to the students and to provide Mr Ross Perry, the principal, with that federal funding, which was so much appreciated.

Let me give another example of a school in the Ryan electorate that has benefited to the tune of $150,000: the Indooroopilly State School, which received this money for a playground upgrade. The principal, Mrs Hilary Backus, was delighted that the federal government was able to step in and fill the void. I find it astonishing—and wonder if Australians around the country realise—that the national government of the day is providing funds for things like shade structures, library extensions and air conditioning. Moggill State School was the beneficiary of $51,000 and the principal, Mrs Helen King, was delighted to receive this money, but one would think this sort of thing would be within the remit of state governments—that a national government would focus on defence, foreign affairs, customs and immigration but would not be required to step in and fill the void where state governments should have their priorities.

The Payne Road State School, which I also had the pleasure of visiting, received $146,000 for library and ICT extensions. I will go back to one of my favourite projects—air conditioning: Mr Fred Hardman, the principal of Pullenvale State School in the Ryan electorate, was delighted to receive a cheque from the federal government for $105,000. And I enjoyed my visit to Rainworth State School in Bardon because the principal there received $45,000 for musical instruments and other resources for the school’s orchestra.

Here again we have a federal government stepping in to assist a primary school with musical instruments for the orchestra. I find that astonishing, and I think most Australians would share the view that our priorities should be at the national level looking after key areas relating to the country, not in providing funds for musical instruments for a school orchestra. I should take the opportunity in the parliament to thank Rainworth school at Bardon for their very warm welcome when I visited. The warm welcome of the kids and the sheer talent of their musical performance really struck me.

I want to turn the House’s attention to the Ironside primary school in the Ryan electorate. The Ironside State School had refurbishments to its pool and change rooms after it received some $44,000 under the Investing in Our Schools Program. I had the pleasure of going to Ironside State School and saying a few words about the federal government’s strong support for the school in circumstances where the state government over many years had had little interest in providing support. They told me that the change rooms had suffered from sheer neglect and had become unusable to the extent that the pool had become pretty much out of bounds. The kids were not able to utilise the facility because of the unhygienic change rooms. From my recollection, those change rooms had been neglected for a couple of decades, and I certainly have no hesitation in firing bullets off to both sides of politics in Queensland.

Whether you are a Labor state government or a coalition state government, the priority must be to do the right thing, to come up with ideas and bring in policies that make a difference to real issues and to the lives of Australians. Let us get past the nonsense of political buck-passing and political character assassination that seems to be creeping into Australian politics. Let us get down to the business of looking after the people of Australia and providing the necessary infrastructure to our schools. It is a disgrace that a school like Ironside State School was unable to access funds from Queensland state governments of both persuasions. Remember, though, that the Labor government has been in office since 1989 bar two years of coalition government led by Rob Borbidge. Queenslanders ought to remember that, aside from those two years, the Labor government has been in power in Queensland since 1989. It ought to get its act together and come to the table on things like health, education and roads—certainly on roads like Moggill Road in my electorate.

I want to turn my attention to Kenmore State High School, to which I took the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Science and Training a few weeks ago, to speak to the grade 12 students. I thank him for his kind visit, which was tremendously well received by the students of grade 12. In his own inimitable fashion, Pat Farmer won the hearts and minds of the students of grade 12 at Kenmore State High.

I was delighted to present to Kenmore State High School and Mr Wade Haynes, the principal, $150,000 in round 2 for air conditioning. Anybody who has been into the classrooms in a Queensland school will know that air conditioning is an absolute priority. I call again on the state Labor government, which is absolutely awash in GST, to start delivering on the ground, to start building the schools and the classrooms and to start installing air conditioning for the kids.

This financial year alone, the Queensland government has received some $8 billion in GST revenue from the federal government and, again, not one single dollar of those GST funds is retained by the federal government. So, with such a huge amount of cash in its coffers, the Queensland government should get on with delivering the key projects and programs for the children, not only in the Ryan electorate but throughout the state of Queensland.

In conclusion, I am delighted to speak on this bill. It delivers $181 million of additional funds to the billion-dollar-plus fund that the Howard government has already put on the table for the schools of Australia. I know that the parents of the electorate of Ryan will be delighted that they will be able to access these funds through their P&Cs and to prioritise them to where their schools can benefit most. Again, I commend all the wonderful parents and staff—the principals and the teachers—of the schools in Ryan for their dedicated service to education and for their commitment to the lives of young Australians.

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