Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is great to follow the member for Berowra in this debate on the Australian Education Amendment Bill 2017. Perhaps I can offer him this: Berowra Public School, losing $230,000; Brooklyn Public School, minus $47,000; Cherrybrook Technology High School, negative $1.1 million; Cheltenham Girl's High School at Epping, $731,000 worse off; Cherrybrook Public School, $559,000 worse off; and then there is Clarke Road School and Cowan Public School. It is a shame the member for Berowra left the chamber.

I rise clearly and firmly to express my disgust and frustration that this government, the Turnbull government, has turned on the children of my electorate of Lindsay and turned on their principals. The New South Wales Teachers Federation has provided data using confidential information from a government information public access request, or GIPA—formerly known as an FOI—via the Department of Education's own figures. The Teachers Federation, through the Department of Education, has provided school-by-school analysis, showing that this government's budget has extraordinarily slashed more than $846 million from New South Wales public schools. This is the money due to be provided over the years 2018-19 under the original Gonski funding agreement, signed by the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments.

So extraordinary is the money being ripped out that the New South Wales Liberal Minister for Education, through the Department of Education, wrote to every single school principal in my area, telling the schools:

I am aware the Commonwealth education minister has written to you with an estimate of the funding increases that your school will attract from the latest announcement.

You should not rely on these figures for future planning or budgeting purposes.

And I have the letter here. The full letter goes on to say much more. Of course, I would be happy to table that document, but I am sure that Liberal members opposite have already seen it. It is simply extraordinary that a Liberal state minister and a department secretary would take such a step. But, on a scale and the importance of this decision made by the Prime Minister and this incompetent government, I say it is absolutely the right step.

The Turnbull government are punishing every single public school in my electorate and every single public school in New South Wales, and they know it. Every single one of the 43 public schools in my Western Sydney community of Lindsay is going to lose money—every single student, every single classroom, every single principal, every single teacher and every single family, and that is a disgrace. Every school will lose money, from Principal Justine Blackley's Mulgoa Public School, a gorgeous little school on the outskirts of Lindsay, which will lose $61,000, through to Colyton High School, a big high school, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and will now have $1.3 million cut from its bottom line. These are students in Western Sydney who need it the most.

I have to admit that, when I learned that every single public school in Lindsay will lose out under this proposal, I actually did not believe it. I did not believe that we would be $23 million worse off. Maybe that was denial. I thought: 'Surely there has been a mistake. Surely the Turnbull government would not be so callous. Surely the Turnbull government has not turned its back on the children of Lindsay, and surely the Turnbull government would not launch an attack on our public schools.' You would think that a bloke as out of touch as this Prime Minister is would at least have the electoral smarts not to do something so callous and so indefensible as to take money from a child's education.

Public schools around this nation are vitally important. They look after seven out of 10 kids with a disability, like Kingswood South Public School in my electorate of Lindsay; seven out of 10 kids from a language background other than English; around eight out of 10 kids from low-income families, many of whom are living in Lindsay; and eight out of 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The Prime Minister talks big when he delivers a speech for our First Australians but cannot back in our First Australians when it comes to giving them a decent, fair and funded education. Taking money from Aboriginal students' education will not help close the gap.

Like many in this chamber—or at least on this side of it—I am a mum and I am a very proud one. I have three beautiful children and all of them are in public schools. I have one in year 3, one in year 5 and one in year 9. I will miss the assembly of my third grader tomorrow, as I will be standing in this place defending the school funding of every nine-year-old in public schools in my electorate. My middle child, who has a disability, has been a direct beneficiary of needs based funding, for which I, as his mother and local member, am so grateful. Just like in all families, each of my children has their own unique learning needs. Each one of them adores their school, their hardworking teachers, their friends and their school community. Each one of them will lose out under the Turnbull government's cuts to education funding.

I say to every single year 12 student and to some students in year 11 at high schools in my area, like Glenmore Park High, Chifley College Dunheved, St Mary's Senior High: when you cast your first ballot at the next federal election, never forget that the Liberal Party abandoned you and your education. Never forget that the Liberal Party ripped more than $23 million out of school funding. Never forget that the Liberals took $23 million that could have gone to new resources, remedial teaching, gifted and talented programs, and targeted tuition for your younger brothers and sisters. Never ever forget that $23 million was taken out of education in the same budget that Malcolm Turnbull gave big business a tax cut worth $65 billion. Never forget. Never forget Liberal governments' priorities and, if you are not a millionaire, always remember that you are not one of them.

This Turnbull government is ripping funding out of every school in Lindsay. Every single one of the 43 public schools in my electorate will have its funding cut, including Claremont Meadows, Kingswood Park and Kingswood, where I completed my first prac as a teacher in training—every child, every parent, every teacher, and every principal. The Turnbull government is going to make life harder for every single one to get ahead, from the foundation of a good, proper and well-funded education—kids in schools like Penrith South.

The Turnbull government is ripping $1.2 million out of Cambridge Park High School, which has one of the highest populations of Indigenous students in Lindsay. Cranebrook High School—not Cranbrook!—which is in a part of my electorate that has a lot of public housing, educates kids from diverse backgrounds. It is a great school, and it is in an area where we need to be giving kids a chance, not taking it away. It is going to lose $1.2 million.

Kingswood High School does not even have air conditioning in its classrooms—in a suburb that reached 45 degrees in January—and it has a school hall that is falling to pieces. The state Liberal government and state member Stuart Ayres should be ashamed! But, while Kingswood families are working their guts out, Kingswood kids are trying their hardest, and they are going to lose $1.1 million.

Principal, Mr Glen Leaf, of Bennet Road Public School in the hardworking suburb of Colyton is going to lose just over $1 million. These are kids from kindy right through to sixth graders losing out. Cambridge Park Public School, where good principal, Cheryl Binns, is doing awesome work with students and kids in their support units, will have over $1 million ripped out.

The parents and students at St Marys North Public School, who have been assisted by long-term, well-respected volunteer and community champion, Jackie Greenow, will be losing over $1 million. The Turnbull government, in its callousness, is even ripping $166,000 from Kurrambee School, which provides a dignified education looking after students with the most special needs; an SSP in my electorate, doing amazing things for families and students—many of whom I am privileged to know. I have watched firsthand the positive impact that the education they are getting is having on their lives. Every school in Lindsay—every school: the Turnbull government is attacking every kid, every parent and every teacher in every public school in Lindsay.

Properly funding public education is at the very core of the fair go. It was a Labor government that commissioned the review of funding for schooling, a Labor government that introduced the Schooling Resource Standard and a Labor government that developed a genuine needs based funding model, guaranteeing more funding to kids to give them the extra help that they require. Over here, on this side of the House, we do not just know how to say 'fair' we know how to do it. 'Fair' is not just a word for us in the English language that you can simply say; it is a word of action. It is something you demonstrate: it is a value and it is measurable. On 'fair': these Liberal Muppets in government would not know how to do it if it slapped them on the forehead!

The Australian Education Act 2013 includes the following objective in law:

All students in all schools are entitled to an excellent education, allowing each student to reach his or her full potential so that he or she can succeed, achieve his or her aspirations, and contribute fully to his or her community, now and in the future.

The Turnbull government's bill proposes removing these words from the act.

I say to the teachers at Penrith High School and Penrith Public School that the Liberal Party does not believe in public education. To the students at York Public School, Jamisontown Public School and Orchard Hills Public School I say that the Liberal Party does not want to guarantee the rights of every single one of your classmates. To the hardworking kids at Oxley Park and Penrith Primary School I say that the Liberal Party does not want you to receive the best education that this nation can provide. To the parents over at Henry Fulton Public School I say that the Liberal Party and the government does not care about your kids.

Jamison High School, which is around the corner from where I live and where principal, Mr Greg Lill, is doing great things, is going to lose $913,000. These are the students who walk to and from school every day past my home. The Nepean Creative and Performing Arts High School, is where the principle Mr Max Ford is pushing his students to shine beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom and to seek opportunities to excel in the creative jobs of the future. They are going to miss out on $821,000.

Oxley Park Public School is in a very diverse part of my community in Lindsay. It will be short by $141,000. Over in Emu Plains, across the Nepean River, a cluster of schools will lose more than $1.7 million—Emu Heights, Emu Plains and Leonay. The Glenmore Park Learning Community, where local legend, Mark Geyer, and I championed education and leadership to a group of kids this year, will lose more than $2.2 million combined—Glenmore Park High School, Glenmore Park Public School, Regentville Public School and Surveyors Creek Public School.

Schools servicing families to the north of Lindsay will also lose over $2.2 million: Braddock Public School, Cambridge Gardens Public School, Castlereagh Public School, Henry Fulton Public School, Llandilo Public School and Samuel Terry Public School. The eastern end of the electorate, in Werrington and St Marys, will lose a combined $2 million: Werrington Public School, Werrington County Public School, St Marys Public School, St Marys South Public School and St Marys Senior High School.

The Turnbull government has even attacked the Putland Education and Training Unit, which provides rehabilitation and training services for youngsters coming out of Cobham Juvenile Justice Offenders and who need a second chance. They have almost $200,000 gone. And the Penrith Valley Learning Centre, helping to engage those who need something more targeted than a mainstream school, will lose $100,000.

If those over there do not think that money being spent on education is money well spent then I am not quite sure why they even sought election to this House. More than $23 million dollars has been ripped out of public schools right across the Penrith region. That is one hell of a sausage sizzle fundraising effort for P&Cs and a lot of cakes to bake for bake sales to raise the kind of money to replace it. It will be missing from all of those schools come 2018. I am disgusted and I am frustrated that the Turnbull government has short-changed the children of my electorate of Lindsay, short-changed their parents and short-changed their very, very dedicated and hardworking teachers and principals at every public school in Lindsay—every public school. The Turnbull government is attacking every kid in every public school, and they have the audacity to come in here and to shove their faces on the TV news to defend their disgrace of a policy, champion their budget and wave around a $65 billion dollar tax cut for big business like they are changing the world. They are giving their big business mates tax cut on the backs of the kids of Lindsay. Tax cuts for big businesses have never, ever changed the world.

If we look at history, we will find the thing that has changed the world is education. History will judge this government and their decisions quite poorly. I believe that everyone needs a chance and a champion, and under the Liberals no child in a public school in Lindsay will be given a chance. They absolutely do not have a champion in this government, who choose to champion big business tax cuts over their education.

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