Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Australian Education Amendment Bill 2017. I support the amendments moved by the shadow minister. Make no mistake about it: this bill is one of the harshest we have seen by this government. That is why so many on this side have been standing up here and speaking about all of our concerns. Many of us came to this place with such a dedication to education and improving educational outcomes for all Australians. What this bill does is take away many positive educational outcomes for young Australians.

Instead of providing schools with the funding needed to support the resources required, this government is actually cutting $22.3 billion compared with existing arrangements. We in the Labor Party know that a strong investment in education is absolutely fundamental to the core Australian values of equity and a fair go. Without support for education, we know that every young Australian is denied the opportunity to actually reach their full potential.

When in government, Labor undertook a landmark review into school funding. We introduced the Schooling Resource Standard. This was the instigation of a sector-blind model, defining with clarity the funding that all schools in Australia need in order to deliver the standard of education required for each child. This model guaranteed that all children in Australia got the extra assistance they needed. Children with poorer outcomes were able to receive equity in opportunity. Indeed, this guarantee was enshrined in law under the Australian Education Act 2013. The law determined objectives that every student in every school is entitled to the same excellent level of education and the same opportunities as every other student to reach their full potential. It ensured support for education would allow them to contribute to their communities, not just now but into the future. Schools, parents, teachers and students know what a positive impact the early years of extra funding made to them. The evidence was in better literacy and numeracy results, it increased science and coding classes and there was a greater uptake of university offers.

Inclusive economic growth is absolutely reliant on the reforms that Labor introduced in 2013. This was emphasised in a recent report by the OECD. If we want a stronger economy and a better future for this country, we need the investment in all sectors of education that Labor is committed to providing—not just the very lucky few areas that the Prime Minister and the Liberal-National government want to assist. The Liberal and National parties do not recognise education as the great vehicle for empowerment that it is, and paying just lip-service to education is not the same as committing to it or investing in it, as we do on this side of the House. The current government will say they want to provide the best possible education, but what they will not tell you is that they do not want to guarantee that for everyone—just for the chosen few.

For the Liberal-National government, that great education is limited only to the chosen few; it is not related to equity or fairness at all. Indeed, they are walking away from important measures and targets that are part of the current act. They are walking away from measures that would ensure our schools and teachers are supported in their work to provide a high quality, equitable education. They are turning away from the national targets set by the Labor Party, one of which is that Australian schools be placed in the top five highest performing countries in literacy, numeracy and science by 2025. They are denying Australia the opportunity to be considered equitable and high-quality by international standards by 2025. Their short-sighted and retrograde measures will see the attainment rate for year 12 or certificates II and III drop, not increase, and their lack of foresight will see an increase in the attainment gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other students in reading, writing and numeracy. Make no mistake, that is what this government is leading our children towards—these unfair standards.

The Prime Minister and the Liberal-National Party simply do not value education for Australian students. True to form, they are out of touch with what many Australian schools and teachers face in order to provide adequate resources and assistance to their students. Changes this government have introduced in parliament represent just over $22 billion in cuts to education—so over $22 billion of cuts from our children and their ability to be properly educated and properly trained for the future. Why would a government who say they support education want to jeopardise the future of children and affect their ability to go to university or to go to TAFE or to get training or to get meaningful employment or to make opportunities for themselves? That is quite an easy question to answer—it is so they can give big business that big tax cut. That is all they want to do; that is their main focus—looking after multimillionaires and big business. That is their priority, and that is their choice. We also talk about other educational avenues such as universities and TAFE. We have certainly seen some major cuts by this government in those areas as well, and denying educational opportunities at all levels reflects their priorities compared to ours.

Schools, teachers, parents and students can see that schools will be worse off as a result of this government's cuts. We have seen many different groups come out and rightly condemn the government—$22 billion taken away from our schools is the equivalent to cutting $2.4 million from every school in Australia over the next decade—and $2.4 million is a huge amount. Taking away $22 billion is like sacking 22,000 teachers, and those 22,000 teachers all potentially could be out there providing great quality education.

This is going to make a huge difference in my electorate. I do want to run through some of the schools in my electorate and indicate what these cuts will mean to them in the 2018-19 year. For Ballina Public School, it will mean losing over $622,000; Bangalow Public School, over $168,000; Banora Point High School, over $611,000; Bogangar Public School, over $230,000; Byron Bay High School, over $470,000; Byron Bay Public School, over $390,000; Centaur Public School, over $659,000; Cudgen Public School, over $176,000; and Kingscliff High School, over $890,000. Other schools include: Lennox Head Public School, which would lose over $210,000; Mullumbimby High School, over $440,000; Murwillumbah East Public School, over $379,000; Murwillumbah High School, over $595,000; Ocean Shores Public School, over $222,000; Pottsville Beach Public School, over $490,000; Terranora Public School, over $280,000; Tweed Heads South Public School, over $560,000; Tweed River High School, over $800,000; Uki Public School—a wonderful small public school—over $120,000; and Wollumbin High School, over $460,000. They are, of course, not all the schools in my electorate. But it is just a bit of a snapshot of those wonderful public schools providing great services to our children. These massive cuts will really impact their ability to provide those great standards that they are currently providing.

The review of school funding had reported that all governments work together and that they work towards a common goal of enabling every child to succeed in school, with all governments at state and commonwealth level ensuring that total resources are delivered to each school, not necessarily looking at who delivers it. That is why we in government worked with the states and territories to ensure that between 2019 and 2022 every underfunded school would reach their fair funding level. We in the Labor Party said to the states, 'We'll work with you to ensure that each and every child gets the funding they need.' We committed to offering two-thirds of extra funding required and had secured an agreement for states to increase their funding by a third. It was only through these agreements that we were able to guarantee what this government is unable to—that is, fair and necessary funding for each school.

In fact, all of Labor's hard work and improvements in educational outcomes have been undermined by this government. The Prime Minister has stated that total funding for each school is not important. Just like the previous Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, the Liberal-National parties just want to again go backwards when it comes to providing for our schools. Under their proposal, about 85 per cent of public schools will still not have reached a fair funding level by 2027. Those same schools will receive less than 50 per cent of the extra funding. In my electorate of Richmond alone, public schools will miss out on over $14 million of funding over the next two years—a huge amount. It would make a very big difference to all of those schools.

Labor understands the great work that public schools do in providing for around 70 per cent of children with a disability, 70 per cent of children whose language background is other than English, 80 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and 80 per cent of children from low-income families who rely on the public system. Those are the facts. Labor's model has full funding for all loadings related to disadvantage. This would mean that Catholic and independent schools educating children with extra needs would not miss out on necessary funding as they will under the government's plan. We believe what the government is proposing is absolutely and fundamentally unfair.

Despite the government promising it has fixed disability support for students, there are no details at all on this proposal. So where is that? Nothing has changed since the 2013 election. This is particularly unfair because, of course, it is so students that do require more support. In fact, what they are seeing from this government is nothing—there is no support at all. The government's model means that many Catholic schools will also be penalised, resulting in an increase in fees or a loss in teacher numbers, resources and, in many cases, both. This is matter of massive concern—certainly in my electorate, particularly in rural and regional areas. The impact on all of our schools, particularly our Catholic schools as well, will be absolutely detrimental under this government's changes.

Whilst we support the proposal of a gradual reduction in funding for the 24 most overfunded schools in the country, we are very concerned at the huge inequities in the rest of the model. The government has said time and again that reform for schools is what is most important, not money. Well, if that is their case, where is their plan for reform? There is no plan for reform, just massive funding cuts.

We had a very good agreement with the states and territories, and this government has, effectively, thrown it all away, wasting the last four years—four years which, under Labor, would have delivered a commitment to quality teaching and learning, more autonomy for school communities and principals, increased transparency and increased accountability. These are all very important measures. There have been four wasted years without any reform. Now, they are saying that a new national agreement will not even be taken to COAG until mid 2018. Indeed, if the government really cared about reform, were focused on it and truly cared about quality learning and outcomes for children within our schools, they would not be stripping money from them, they would not be cutting the more than $22 billion from our schools, they would not be preventing our children from getting the extra help and support that they do require to get the proper training and proper education outcomes.

Over 2018 and 2019 Labor would have invested around $3 billion more than the Liberals and Nationals have proposed to ensure that schools get their fair level of funding—a huge amount, around $3 billion, to assist our schools to truly improve and truly provide those outcomes. Our children deserve this, and it is vital for the future of our country to ensure that every single child has that fair chance. We have stated that we would restore that $22 billion of cuts and properly fund our schools, allowing every child in every classroom the same opportunities. Every single student in every single school is entitled to an excellent education, allowing each child to reach their full potential so that they can succeed, so that they can achieve their dreams and so that they can contribute fully to his or her community now and in the future.

The quality of a student's education should not be limited by where they live, the income of their family, the school they attend or, indeed, their personal circumstances. This is even more important in regional areas like mine. When we look at rural and regional areas, we see that there are often many barriers to accessing quality education. The government are making it even harder and, of course, they are doing it with the full support of the National Party, who have, as I have mentioned many times, completely abandoned the people of regional and rural Australia. When they vote on a bill like this and they are voting to support cutting funding from regional schools, it is truly devastating. People have long memories and they will not forget that the National Party have made it even harder for people in those areas. It is very difficult for younger people from the country to get to university and to access TAFE, particularly with this government's increases in fees and their cuts to TAFE. Now the government are cutting back on their school funding as well, which will really impact their opportunities.

Under Labor, we want to make sure that teachers have the skills and support that they require to improve their performance over time and to deliver teaching of a high quality to all their students. Schools and their teachers will have the resources, skills and autonomy to make decisions and to implement strategies at a local level. That is what is important. Only Labor's plan to adequately fund schools represents the first truly national standard in Australia, with every school having access to resources and funding according to need. This was the recommendation of the Gonski panel, and Labor can completely fulfil that.

As with the OECD latest report, principals, teachers, parents and students all understand that, no matter where they live or their family circumstances, they deserve funding for an education based on equity and fairness. As I said, that is particularly true for those in rural and regional areas. They deserve to have access to a quality education. They deserve to be able to achieve as much as their city counterparts. Indeed, the Labor Party is the only party that stands alongside regional areas on matters such as education.

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