Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the motion put forward by the member of Hotham. I commend her for the motion. I speak on behalf of the many special schools in the seat of Moreton and their students, their families, their aides, their allied health workers, their teachers and school leaders. I am always happy to talk about education. I was a school teacher for 11 years before becoming a lawyer. I appreciate and value the importance of education for every child, whatever challenges and opportunities they bring to the classroom door.

In government, Labor implemented the More Support for Students with Disabilities program. That program was designed as an interim arrangement while data was collected in collaboration with the states and territories to finalise the Gonski loading for students with disability. The Abbott government promised before the election to continue to fund Labor's Gonski school reforms for students with disability. We were seen to be on the same page when it came to Gonski. However, the coalition's first budget cut the More Support for Students with Disabilities program—a program investing $100 million per year to support students with disability—and we have seen the budgets put forward by the Treasurer that have confirmed the $30-billion cut to school funding, which will obviously impact on all students, particularly those with disability. This motion calls on the government to continue working with the states and territories to complete the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability program and implement the Gonski disability loading, reverse its cuts and restore the More Support for Students with Disabilities program. Children with disability deserve to be supported to the maximum extent in the classroom. The hardworking teachers in this sector deserve to be supported.

The schools in my electorate of Moreton deliver so much with so little, particularly in the area of meeting the diverse learning needs of students in classrooms, special education programs and early childhood development programs. Moreton receives great service from Calamvale Special School, Kuraby Special School, Sunnybank Special School, Tennyson Special School and Yeerongpilly Early Childhood Development Program, which is located on the grounds of Yeronga State School and is an Education Queensland facilitate for young children with hearing loss from a birth to pre-prep, just to name some of the institutions in Moreton. These are all specialist schools for children with disability. Some other schools in Moreton run programs within their school for children with disability, such as MacGregor State School, where the principal, Michael Ennis, has 1,293 students—it is a very big primary school—and 63 of those students have a disability. These students are fully included in the school and are a valued part of the school community.

The Sunnybank Special School, with principal Mr Darren Greenway, has 44 full-time students. Their early childhood development program has 11 children, who are aged from three to five years. This is a very small school with nine full-time teachers and four part-time teachers. As a very small school in a growing area, they are often overlooked in terms of funding.

The Kuraby Special School has 78 full-time students. The students range from prep to year 12. Principal Jenny Horchner-Wilson has 17 dedicated teachers at this school and I can tell you their Christmas pageants are one of the most heart-touching parts of my job.

The principal of the Calamvale Special School, Tom Byrne, recently brought some of his students to Canberra. I was privileged to spend some time with them, along with the member for Rankin because the school is in Rankin but right on the border. They were having a great time in Parliament House when I caught up with them. Calamvale is one of the largest special schools in my area: it has 130 students. All students have significant intellectual disabilities. Several students have multiple disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy and hearing impairments. The students' ages range from five to 18. There are 22 classes at Calamvale with 80 teachers, including teacher aides.

All students at Calamvale Special School learn Auslan. Incredibly, their senior class of eight students conducts all of its lessons bilingually using both English and Auslan. The principal, Tom Byrne, explained that some autistic children cannot verbalise, so learning Auslan actually gives those children a way of communicating. It also allows those with hearing impairments to be included. This is a modern, progressive classroom which is thinking smart so that every student is given maximum advantage in life. It is overcoming these types of challenges that might make many teachers from 30 to 40 years ago weep but which makes these schools in my electorate so special.

Obviously, Labor values the hard work and dedication of teachers, parents, schools and carers across Australia. We see that by investing in education, particularly in schools that are underresourced—as per the Gonski model—we can actually boost productivity in the long run. So I commend again the member for Hotham for bringing forward this motion, and I commend it to the chamber.

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