Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Tax Laws Amendment (Education Refund) Bill 2008. In speaking on this bill, I need to point out that the government’s bill is significantly less comprehensive than the policy taken to the Australian people by the coalition at the last federal election. Labor have promised so much but, sadly, delivered very little. They promised a revolution, but there has been nothing revolutionary so far. The fact is that their education revolution measures have been paid for by getting rid of existing programs. One need only see the cull of the former government’s Investing in Our Schools Program, the abolition of the $700 reading tuition voucher and the removal of support for Australian technical colleges to see this. An education revolution is a fancy title, but not when it involves merely assigning a new name to existing education programs.

On this side of the House, we do not simply rely on our own arguments. We can look at the government side to see the dispirited manner in which at least one government MP views this so-called education revolution and its rhetoric. The member for Fowler spoke on the Schools Assistance Bill and pointed out that the government’s so-called revolution is a long way off and that it is hardly a revolution. This bill provides tax refunds for education expenses incurred by parents for the cost of their children’s education. It amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 through the introduction of a refundable tax offset for eligible education expenses. The refundable tax offset will apply to expenses incurred from 1 July 2008.

The coalition’s broader and more comprehensive policy explicitly included items such as government and non-government school fees, uniforms, textbooks, camps, excursions, laptops, broadband connections, computer software, preschool fees and charges and extracurricular activities such as music, sport and drama. We know that many families, including many families in my own electorate, are doing it tough at the moment, and we recognise that there are at times significant costs associated with education, particularly with some of the extracurricular activities and technological requirements that are part of the life of a student today, be they in primary or in secondary school. That is why the coalition’s education policy made it clear that the coalition would introduce a new refundable tax rebate of 40 per cent for education expenses, including school fees, for every student from preschool—kindergarten in some states—until the end of secondary school. The policy went on to state:

… enabling parents to choose the best education for their children often requires them to juggle not only their priorities but also the costs associated with educating their children.

On this side of the House we will support passage of this bill, but we recognise that the legislation could be significantly improved. A good start would be for the government to have a closer look at the coalition’s election policy. This is unfortunately wishful thinking, but if we are to be serious about lessening the burden of the costs associated with child raising and education then we should resolve that the base of coverage of the education expenses as part of the refundable tax offset should be as broad as possible. The coalition’s plan did this, but the current legislation is much narrower.

We are the party of choice. We support choice in education. We support parents’ ability to make the right choices for their children. In addition to this, parents should be given far greater freedom as to how they spend their education tax refund. They should have a wide range of items covered by its scope, not the rigid, prescriptive approach that is proposed by the government through this legislation. This is apparently only one plank of the government’s so-called education revolution. Thus far it has been underwhelming to say the very least. We expect more from the government that promised so much in this area but that at the moment is appearing to renege on its promises, be it with the botched handling of the computers in schools program, the cessation of Investing in Our Schools or the flight away from Australian technical colleges—the list could go on. On this side of the House we acknowledge that this bill could be better, but we support the concept of helping parents with the costs of education and the fact that this policy is in some way similar to that outlined by the coalition at the last election but leaves us wanting.

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