Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Every single member of this parliament should recognise that there is an urgent need for us to invest in school reform. The evidence is compelling and it is overwhelming. Yet we noticed, again, today in question time when the Prime Minister was asked a question about his proposed $30 billion in cuts to our school system he failed in his answer to mention the word 'education' once, to mention the word 'student' once or to mention the words 'school' and 'schooling' once. That is because this is a government that has absolutely no plan for the future of our education system except to inflict the biggest cuts to school funding in this nation's history, which is what has been included in this government's last two budgets.

After the $30 billion cuts to schools, after they dumped their so-called unity ticket on school funding—which you might recall they told the Australian public they were on before the last election—after they trashed the Gonski reforms which they pledged to keep in place, as we head towards the next election, there are reports that the Prime Minister is suddenly scrambling to pull together $7 billion in hush money to mask his government's cuts and try and buy the silence of state governments to cover-up the massive hole in school and hospital funding. Those opposite do not have a solution to school funding. All they have is chaos and all they are looking for is short-term political answers to get them past the next election before they once more break the hearts of everybody who cares about Australia's education system.

I want to remind members of the House why it is so critically important that we invest in reforming our school system. It is not just because I or the Labor Party say so; it is because, after the biggest review of Australia's school system in over 40 years, the evidence is compelling that we need to change. When we look at the international evidence, whether it be PISA or whether it be reports from the OECD, the evidence is compelling. Let us place on the record what is currently happening in Australian schools so that we can front up to the problem and then talk about the solutions that are required.

In Australian schools right now we know that the gap is growing larger and larger between those students and those schools that are performing well and those students and those schools that are falling behind. In fact, the gap in Australia between these two sorts of schools is now wider than the OECD average. Anybody who believes—like every person who sits on this side of the House—that the key to a fair Australia and an equitable society is for every single child at every single school to have a great education and equal access to opportunities knows that we need to close this gap as a matter of urgency.

It is not just about equity. When we look at the skills that are required for the jobs of the future we know that these are the very same areas where all of the international comparisons show that Australia is slipping behind. We know that our international performance is slipping when it comes to maths, when it comes to science and when it comes to the critical STEM topics which we know Australian students will rely upon in the international economy of the future. We know, and the OECD has told us, that if we want to boost Australia's future economic growth we need to urgently address the fact that we need improvement in our schools. All of this evidence is well known. All of this evidence has been discussed and all of this evidence should be accepted by every single member of this parliament.

We do not know just the problems; we also know the solution. Having gone through the biggest review of the Australian school system in over 40 years, we were given a road map for reform. We were given a way that we can bridge the gap, a way that we can ensure that every student in every school gets the support and the funding levels that they need and that that funding is directed towards the programs and policies which we know make a difference. At the last election, those opposite claimed that they were on board when it came to reform. People may recall that the member for Sturt said prior to the last election, 'You can vote Liberal or Labor and you will get exactly the same amount of funding for your school.' If only that were true. The now former Prime Minister said before the last election, 'We are on an absolute unity ticket when it comes to school funding.' If only that had turned out to be true. At the last election, the very last thing that voters saw before they went in to cast their ballots were large signs that were displayed at polling booths. The signs read, 'The Liberals will match Labor's school funding dollar for dollar.' Every single one of these statements turned out to be nothing but empty promises, nothing but tricks in the lead-up to an election. It shows that those opposite do not care about schools. The reality is that every time they stand up and claim that they care about innovation, every time they stand up and claim that they care about future economic growth, every time that they stand up and claim that they care about Australia's international competitiveness, we know that those are nothing more than empty promises and more tricky slogans if they continue with their policy to rip $30 billion from our schools, because everything else collapses if you do not have a quality school education system.

Now we are starting to see some new promises from this government. After ripping up agreements, after ripping money out of school budgets, after attacking education time and again, as we get closer to the election we are starting to hear some new promises coming out of those opposite. We know, for example, that the new education minister has said that we will have a new school funding model in place. Sure, we had reviews, we had experts, we had academics, but the new education minister is going to put in place a new school funding model that he is apparently going to come up with himself. We have heard promises like this before. For example, we heard the former education minister say, 'We are going to have a new funding model which is beginning in 2015.'

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