Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to talk this morning about the record funding the Turnbull government is providing to our schools, particularly schools in South Australia. In my electorate of Boothby alone, we are seeing a $269 million increase in school funding over the next 10 years. Every student in southern Adelaide will be better off under this plan. We are finally fixing the mess that the Labor Party left us with, which has been made possible because of our sound financial management over the past five years.

In Aberfoyle Park, the Meridian School is receiving an extra $3.9 million to 2027, and Pilgrim School is getting $4.2 million. In Mitchell Park, Hamilton Secondary School is receiving a further $9 million. Down in Seacombe Heights, Seaview High School will get $4.8 million. Colonel Light Gardens Primary School, where my great-grandmother and my grandmother both taught, in my electorate, will receive an extra $4.4 million over the period to 2027. The combined increase in funding to Catholic schools in Boothby is also unprecedented. Among the 10 Catholic schools in my electorate an extra $62 million will be provided by the Turnbull government. South Australia overall will see an extra $16 billion of funding from now until 2027.

One of the really exciting pieces of news to come out of our Quality Schools package is the funding that Suneden Special School will receive. Suneden is just a few minutes from my electorate office. The team there, led by Principal Anne Martin, really does an incredible job caring for children, some of whom have some very severe disabilities and need a lot of support. I was privileged to help them celebrate their 50th anniversary last year, and it was wonderful to be able to visit the school and see what they do firsthand. Over the next 10 years the school will receive an extra $11.9 million of funding, which represents an increase of around $20,000 to $54,000 per student, to support the wonderful work that they do.

I want to congratulate Minister Simon Birmingham for the work he has done on this package. As a South Australian he knows that, under the previous government and the deal that state and federal Labor did, South Australia was in a terrible position. The landmark fair needs-based funding model that we have introduced will see the Commonwealth apply the same formula to funding every student, whether they are in government, Catholic or independent schools, within just 10 years. Funding is going from $17 billion this year to $30 billion by 2027. Again, I congratulate Minister Simon Birmingham and I am really looking forward to getting out and about to the schools when I get back to my electorate to talk to them about our plan and how this is going to benefit students and their families as well as teachers in my electorate of Boothby.

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