Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak in support of the Tax Laws Amendment (Education Refund) Bill 2008. As other speakers have quite rightly said, this bill introduces a 50 per cent education tax refund aimed at assisting families with children undertaking primary or secondary school studies to meet the costs of school education through assistance with certain education expenses. This side of the House understands that one of the most important investments we can make in a child is to ensure the child is provided with a good education. It is something that I alluded to in the first speech I made in this place—the importance of education in making a difference not only to a child but to changing society generally.

The education providers understand that principle, the business sector understands that, the Rudd government understands that, parents understand that and other governments around the world understand that. The only ones who do not seem to understand that education underpins opportunity are members opposite, because under their watch education standards in Australia slipped substantially when compared with other OECD countries. Study after study has confirmed that. I just want to quote from one of the most recent studies, entitled How young people are faring, which was only released a month or two ago, I believe, and was put together by Jack Dusseldorp of the Dusseldorp Skills Forum. He said:

• Australia is below many other OECD countries in terms of levels of participation in education, suggesting there is room for improvement.

I quote that study because it is all about young people and is the most recent that I have been able to get my hands on. Within that report that was prepared by Jack Dusseldorp there are a series of graphs, which others may wish to refer to, which simply confirm our position in the international sense when it comes to education.

Furthermore, one has only to look at the run-down condition of public schools throughout Australia to see just how little importance members opposite placed on education when they were in office. They offloaded their responsibility onto the private schools sector and onto the state governments. It was typical of the Howard government to starve the states of funds and then blame the states for not delivering the services or the facilities that communities needed. We saw it in the critical areas of education, health services and housing. In listening to the member for Mayo earlier on today it was interesting that we heard the same rhetoric from him in his contribution to this matter. Again, he blamed the states for any problems when it came to our education services in this country. The Howard government’s idea of funding schools, I might add, was to provide them with flagpoles. In contrast, the Rudd government fully understands that education underpins a child’s future prospects in life and also underpins the nation’s future prosperity.

Governments also have a social responsibility to bridge the gap between those in low socioeconomic sectors of society and the rest of society. Education is certainly the key to doing that. Again, if I can refer to the report How young people are faring, I will quote from some of the comments made in that report about people in low socioeconomic areas. It says:

… about one third of young adults who have completed year 12 were in full-time education. This was over five times the rate for those who were early school leavers.

That is the first critical point: if you were an early school leaver, you will likely not go on to full-time education.

While almost 46 per cent of those from high SES backgrounds engage in full-time education, less than one-fifth from low SES origins do.

Again it highlights the contrast. Furthermore, the report goes on to say:

Year 12 attainment among 19 year-olds varies substantially by social background. Young people from low SES backgrounds attain Year 12 or its equivalent at a rate 26.1 percentage points lower than that of those from high SES origins.

At age 24, well over one-third of those from low SES backgrounds have not completed Year 12 or equivalent, compared to about one in seven of those from high SES backgrounds.

Achievement levels in school also affect attainment, and since school achievement is highly correlated with social background, policies developed to target improvements in Year 12 completion will need to address the issue of social disadvantage.

Governments have a responsibility to bridge that gap between those that are in low socioeconomic sectors and the rest of our society, and the Rudd government is doing that. That is why at the last election the Rudd government made education a priority in the policy announcements that were made. That is why the Rudd government committed to a number of important education policy initiatives for all of Australia.

This bill provides for a 50 per cent tax refund for certain primary and secondary school expenses and is a key plank in the Rudd government’s education policy reform agenda. Importantly, this bill guarantees that the children are the direct beneficiaries of the tax refund because the refund is only provided after the money has been spent on the child’s education needs. Under this $4.4 million proposal, as from 1 July 2008 about 1.3 million Australian families will be able to claim up to $375 for each primary school child’s eligible school expenses and up to $750 for each secondary school child’s eligible school expenses. These rebates will be very welcome by families around Australia, and I have no doubt that it will now make it possible for many parents to buy education resources for their children which they may have wanted to provide but did not because they could not afford the outlay. It also means that children will be more likely to have better education resources and that can only lead to better education outcomes.

For students today, IT equipment has become essential to their learning and essential to the preparation of their schoolwork. It was interesting to hear the member for Flynn quote some statistics on that. For families that come from low socioeconomic areas, only 50 per cent of households have a computer or access to a computer; in the high socioeconomic areas, the figures for computer ownership are much higher. The Rudd government recognises that it is important to have IT equipment for children and has committed $1.2 billion over five years to provide schools with computers. But we all know that students do much of their learning and much of their schoolwork from home after hours as part of their homework, so it is just as important that parents can provide children with home computers. This bill will help parents do that.

Almost without exception, the parents I speak to want the best education possible for their children. They understand just how important a good education is for their children’s future. That is why so many parents that I know take on additional jobs and sacrifice their own time to ensure their children are given a good education and are able to participate in other school activities. No parent wants to see their children miss out on what their school has to offer and no parent wants to see their children do poorly because they do not have the necessary resources.

I said earlier that education is the most effective way of bridging the gap between the socially disadvantaged and the rest of society and of breaking the cycle of poverty. One of the unfortunate outcomes of social inequality for all of us is that often some of our brightest and most talented children do not complete secondary education or embark on any kind of further education. Their natural ability is left untapped. Sadly, in those cases, it is not only the child but also the rest of society that misses out, because that child’s intellectual talents could have been used for the benefit of others if the child had been given the educational opportunity needed. With respect to those children, I commend the schools and the teachers who, when they recognise a gifted child, do all they can to assist the child in furthering their education.

I said earlier that the rundown state of our public schools is largely the result of neglect by the last coalition government. Our schools, TAFEs and universities were underfunded and underresourced by the previous federal government. It is my view that federal governments do have a national interest and a shared responsibility in all levels of education. The Rudd government understands that and the Australian people understand that. That is why they elected the Rudd government last November, knowing full well that education was going to be one of the areas of expenditure and key policy areas of this government. The Rudd government went to the election last year talking about an education revolution, highlighting the importance of education, highlighting how Australia’s education standards had slipped compared with the rest of the world and highlighting how important education is to the future prosperity of children and to the nation. Voters voted in that election knowing full well the importance that the Rudd government would place on education if it was elected. And, as we saw, voters did elect a Rudd Labor government in that election.

Sadly, one of the outcomes of the coalition government’s neglect of education is that parents are continually having to contribute funding for the most basic of school resources in both public and private schools. So when we talk about parents having to pay for their children’s education it does not apply solely to those who send their children to private schools; today it applies as much to parents who send their children to public schools. School fundraising has become essential for schools, and inevitably that fundraising primarily comes from parents and adds to education costs.

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