Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition and other speakers try to bluff their way through the mythology of funding for our schools. Back in 2013 we committed to meet the forward budget education commitments of four years. The fifth and sixth year of funding were never budgeted for. The first four were funded, and we increased the investment by $1.2 billion to cover the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government shortfall. With this budget, a further $2 billion will be invested over 2018 to 2021, which brings the total to $18.6 billion. I am sure I heard that Labor made a commitment to fund all students to 95 per cent. Where on earth was that money going to come from, when the Labor source of funding originally was supposed to be raised by the minerals resource rent tax? And what a dud that turned out to be.

I also heard about funding for Northern Territory schools, so let's just check on two. Ampilatwatja School received $10,930 per student this year and will get $11,121 next year. Bradshaw Primary School students this year received $5,117 and next year will receive $5,207. For both of these it was a significant increase, but the first school I mentioned is a little bit more remote. Remoteness and being Indigenous actually gives them extra funding, and that is what is reflected in those numbers. The arguments that are being put forward by Labor are bizarre at best, dishonest at worst. They must support the amendments, or shame on them.

One school in my electorate has been featured, not for the amazing work they are doing but for the rubbish regarding funding. So let's put this funding in the context of reality. Nowra East Public School this year gets $3,528 per student and next year will get $3,707. Just around the corner, less than five kilometres away, another school gets only $2,640 and next year will get $2,774. That is needs based funding, because Nowra East is in a low-socioeconomic area. It is $1,000 difference per student for the principal to be able to apply to all the wonderful programs the school is doing.

We have a total combined Commonwealth and state and territory funding that has grown by 15.4 per cent per student over the last 10 years. Commonwealth funding has increased in real terms by 72.4 per cent for government schools and 25.7 per cent for non-government schools. While our funding has been growing, our results are not reflected in that increased investment. How much funding we provide is important, but what we do with it is what counts. Funding should go where it is needed most and should be used in ways that we know deliver results. But under the current funding arrangements that we inherited from the former government, funding for schools is based more on history and special deals than on actual need. States and territories were treated differently by Labor depending on what deal they could negotiate. It is not acceptable that the same student with the same needs currently gets a different level of funding from the Commonwealth depending on where they live. States and territories that had historically funded their schools were actually penalised under those deals.

I note that the previous speaker on this matter of public importance, who happened to be the member for Whitlam, who spends a fair whack of time in my electorate, has not actually discussed any of the schools in his own electorate. So, I have four examples here that he might want to take notice of. The first is Shellharbour Public School. This year they are getting $1,096,200. That is $2,298 per student. Next year they will get $1,151,700. That is $2,415 per student. That is an actual increase, well above CPI, so they can continue their great programs. Flinders Public School this year gets $1,305,700. Next year they will get $1,371,800. That is $2,481 per student. Dapto High School—which is actually quite an amazing high school; I went up there to have a look at their commercial kitchen—this year is getting $2,734,600. Next year they will get $2,873,100. That is quite a significant increase. But need I remind those on the other side that the Commonwealth government is not responsible for the state schools. Getting the funding up to 20 per cent for state schools is great—much better than where it is now—and we have a responsibility to do it. Let's get real about the funding model.

See this speech in context