Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am proud to participate in this debate about schools funding. I want to pick up something that the last speaker said before I go to my substantive contribution, and that is around this mythical $1.2 billion in new funding. I say 'mythical' because the Department of Education has confirmed that it is not new funding. It is existing funding reallocated. It is existing funding: $950 million cut from trade training centres and $450 million from a cut to outside-school-hours care. So all they have done is juggle figures within the Department of Education's budget to provide it. Yet again, it shows that the government are only interested in paying lip-service to fair funding for our schools.

The truth is that Gonski revolutionised the federal government's role in funding education. It provided fair funding for every school, equality for every student and targeted resources based on need, including loadings for small schools, remote schools, disadvantaged students, Indigenous students, students with limited English and students with disability. Schools in my electorate of Charlton would have massively benefited from this, partly because four of the six loadings are very common in Charlton and, might I say, very common in neighbouring electorates such as that of the member for Shortland. The truth is that, according to figures from expert sources, my electorate of Charlton would have received $73.5 million in additional funding between 2013 and 2019 because of the Gonski reforms. A few examples of that include: $4.3 million to Morisset High School, $4.8 million to Toronto High School, $2.4 million to Wallsend South Public School and $860,000 to Garden Suburb Public School. The local Catholic schools would also have massively benefited.

This is all gone because of this government's treachery and lies; all gone because this mean and tricky government said one thing before the election and has gone back on its word. You saw the then shadow minister for education say before the election:

… you can vote Liberal or Labor and you'll get exactly the same amount of funding for your school—

absolutely untrue. The media release also said:

… your funding is certain. The Coalition will match Labor dollar-for-dollar over the next four years.

All completely untrue; all mendacious; all a betrayal of the Australian people. Do not just take my word for it—that is, the impact on my region will be massive; even the New South Wales coalition education minister acknowledges that. Adrian Piccoli said on 14 May:

Schools in regional areas, as well as disadvantaged and Aboriginal students, will be the hardest hit.

When the coalition state governments are criticising the federal government's cuts, you know they must be deep and hard. What is even worse is untying the funding. The member for Lalor talked about how, by not making it a condition that states maintain and increase their funding, all federal funding does is give an excuse for state governments to pull money back, and we saw this with the WA government pulling money out of its system. What is even worse is the Department of Education acknowledge they did absolutely no analysis of the impact on Australia's education system of this $30 billion of budget cuts that are contained in the budget papers.

This is a massive tragedy. This is a tragedy of epic proportions. We should be investing more in education, giving every student in this country the best start in life and giving funding to students based on their need and not on their postcode. This government are not doing that. Governing is all about choices: you can cut $30 billion from education but provide $63 billion over the next decade for a ridiculous paid parental leave scheme—a scheme that would give $50,000 to women in the seats of North Sydney and Warringah who have babies, whereas women in my seat of Charlton would be lucky to receive $20,000. They have got $63 billion for their paid parental leave boondoggle, but they cannot stump up the $30 billion to maintain their real commitment to Gonski.

When we look back at this period of history we will see the coalition has done a reverse Menzies. One of the key reasons Labor were unable to win elections in the fifties and the sixties was because we were mired in a petty sectarian struggle over federal funding for Catholic schools. We were on the wrong side of history. Well, I would submit that the current government are well and truly on the wrong side of history now because not only are they saying no to needs-based funding for schools they are also saying that the federal government's role in education funding should be limited to supporting wealthy private schools and not state schools or systemic Catholic schools. I am confident that this will be condemned by the public when they get the next opportunity. I am confident that the coalition and their mean and tricky cuts that prevent Gonski will put them well and truly on the wrong side of history, and I well and truly condemn them. I will stand up for the $73 million of extra funding for Charlton schools that would have occurred through a true commitment to Gonski funding.

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