Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It saddens me a little today to have to respond to this matter of public importance, because my four children, aged between six and 12, and I think every other child of school age in the country, are being used as a political football. I think it is a disgraceful scare campaign that is being run. It is a shame that I have to respond to this but it is an opportunity to speak last here today to tidy up some of the facts.

My sainted wife is a schoolteacher, and I have to say it is possibly the noblest profession and I absolutely support her and every other schoolteacher that I have met. I know they work very hard to educate our children across the country. It really is those schoolteachers and their individual abilities that make all the difference to our children's education.

In response to the member for Canberra: I have a similar situation where my own mother struggled through school. She completed her education by correspondence and she worked enormously hard to enable me to be the first member of my family to graduate from university.

But let us get some facts on the table here. I want to say emphatically that there are no cuts to Commonwealth spending on schools now or in the forward estimates. As we have heard today from previous speakers on this side, the government is investing record levels of funding in Australian schools, with total Commonwealth funding to all schools across Australia of $69.4 billion over the four years to 2018-19. This is an increase of 27 per cent since the 2014-15 year. I want to spell this out in fine detail so that those on the other side understand what 'cut' means and what 'increase' means.

In 2014-15—this is from MYEFO—funding was increased by 11.1 per cent. From 2014-15 to 2015-16 it was increased by 7.9 per cent. From 2015-16 to 2016-17 it will increase by 8.6 per cent. From 2016-17 to 2017-18 it will increase by 6.5 per cent. I know the other side are not that good at arithmetic, but that is very plainly a massive increase in spending. I would also like to say that the Commonwealth funding to government schools is increasing at a much faster rate than it is to the private sector. As mentioned by the previous speaker on this side, government school funding growth was 36.1 per cent over the period 2014 to 2018-19, compared to 23 per cent growth in the non-government sector.

Along with the Commonwealth government, Western Australia recognises the importance of the education system. Our students in Western Australia are the best funded of any state. In 2015 a new student centred funding model was introduced in public schools in Western Australia. The model provides a base level of funding for each student, with additional funding provided for Aboriginality, disability, social disadvantage and English as a second language.

While I am on facts, it is worth repeating, as my colleague did previously, the ABC fact check from 2014. I am a great friend of the ABC and I did take the opportunity to join the Friends of the ABC when they were here in the House yesterday. But the verdict was that the government did not cut $30 billion from schools in the May budget; the $30 billion figure is calculated over a 10-year period starting in 2017. There is too much uncertainty for such a long-term estimate to be a reliable measure of either cuts or savings. Ms Ellis is spouting rubbery figures. I think that sums this whole debate up.

I want to take the opportunity to talk a little bit about some of the great educational outcomes and initiatives that are happening in my electorate of O'Connor. The Clontarf Foundation, which was set up by Gerard Neesham, is a program for young Aboriginal boys but is also now starting to include girls and is—excuse the pun—kicking goals all over my electorate. We have Clontarf programs in my home town of Katanning, in Albany, in the Goldfields and in Esperance. They are doing a great job and encouraging the young Indigenous boys to attend school and meet certain benchmarks so that they can pursue their football dreams. What a wonderful program it is.

Another thing I am noticing across my electorate is the success of the Independent Public Schools system. Introduced by the Western Australian coalition government in 2009, it has been an enormous success. There are over 22 schools in my electorate that have now opted to be in the Independent Public Schools program. (Time expired)

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