Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to speak on this matter of public importance in relation to education. Many members would recall that we have been here debating this issue for a number of weeks now. Unfortunately, from the other side there is very little new material being added to the debate. I would say that we are at the point that we need to move forward now and concentrate on what is important to the mums and dads of Australia—that is, a quality outcome in education for their children.

As a mother of three children, I can certainly say that when I talk to the mums and dads at the schools that my children go to, or have been to, and at the schools in my electorate, what the mums and dads are keen to talk about is a quality education and a quality outcome—how their kids get the best possible education so that they are well placed to go on and take up the jobs of the future. That, unfortunately, is what is absent from this debate from those opposite.

I would like to, firstly, deal with some of the questionable statistics and dollar figures that the opposition has put up in this debate on a number of occasions, and make the record abundantly clear, yet again, that there certainly are no cuts. I have just been reminded of the ABC Fact Check. The fact that was checked was whether the government had cut $22 billion from schools. There is a lot of information in here which I do encourage people to go and read. There is a very nice photograph above the word 'misleading'. If I turn to the verdict, the first line says:

Ms Plibersek's claim is misleading: the Government is not cutting $22 billion from schools.

What I would say to those opposite is: there are some very key facts in terms of the numbers here that we all need to be mindful of when looking overall at whether or not this is a good deal and a good outcome for our students and for our schools.

Under our proposal, funding for schools will grow from a record $17.5 billion in 2017 to $30.6 billion in 2027. That is a 75 per cent increase. It is 4.1 per cent growth per student. It is a significant amount of money that is being put into the system. Under our plan, schools will be $18.6 billion better off. The annual per-student funding increase over the next 10 years will be 5.1 per cent for the government sector, 3.5 per cent for the Catholic sector and 4.1 per cent for the independent sector. There is a very positive outcome overall for schools and, of course, as a result of that, for our students. What I would say to those opposite is that we need to focus on what is important going forward in education, and that is, clearly, focusing on the fact that, whilst funding is important, it is what we do with the funding that is in fact more important.

I have to give an accolade to my senior minister, the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Simon Birmingham, because what he has had to do is develop and negotiate a pathway through some very, very difficult funding arrangements that were put in place by the previous Labor government. What we inherited was actually a mess. Senator Birmingham has, very methodically and very deliberately, gone through a process of looking at what needs to be fixed to make sure that what we have going forward is fairer, simpler and more sustainable for all of our Australian schools. I have heard the member for Sydney say several times, 'How is it fair?' Let me ask those opposite: how is it fair that states and territories were treated differently by Labor depending on what deal they could negotiate? Why is that fair? How is that fair? How is it fair that we cannot, in this parliament, focus on what is important, which is certainly quality outcomes.

See this speech in context