Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

And the loadings of course on top of that. Which takes me to the disability sector. I bring a question to the chamber today from a concerned constituent, a family member who works in the disability sector and has done so for many many years. Her question is: is this government committed to continuing to not fund the disability loadings that would see families choose mainstream education for their children while continuing to build specialist schools that may in essence be fabulous schools and wonderful? Are we in a space and is it this government's intention that they drive parents of students with disability to a special school rather than provide the funding that is required in the mainstream sector to educate those children in a mainstream setting? This is a critical element because we can replicate special schools in particular suburbs but unless we are going to put one in every neighbourhood then we are discriminating against some sectors of our community who may not live within reach of a special school.

I bear in mind news recently from one of my local special schools, where a student suffering from cerebral palsy who attends this special school was accustomed to being on a bus for a maximum of 40 minutes to and from school as the school picked up students on their way to the special school—obviously highly disabled students with a specifically fitted-out bus and process. That family told me recently of changes that are coming through which mean more students are being required to be taken by that bus. In the first few weeks, their daughter was sitting on the bus for an hour and 20 minutes, rather than 40 minutes, both to and from school. You can imagine that that is going to present all sorts of difficulties for families and for the young people who are involved in that transport. The creation of the funding to ensure that all students with a disability can attend a mainstream school as an option is critical, as it is to ensure that the appropriate funding levels reach our special schools.

The last question I have for the minister is around the retention rates, and around this government's insistence that they continue to raise the amount of money and yet do not calculate increased retention rates into that. We are aiming for a 100 per cent retention rate to year 12; I would think that needs to be in the budget papers.

See this speech in context