Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

School funding needs to be seen with a couple of facts which I will put on the table. The first thing we need to understand is that the number of students going to schools over the next 10 years will increase. So, of course, there will be an increase in funding—something that those opposite hide behind as if that is the only thing we need to understand. When we spoke of education funding before the 2013 election, there seemed to be one ticket and the former shadow education minister said, 'We will support the sector-blind, needs based funding model.' After that, the coalition government retreated from that model, and we have seen that in their own document, where the Turnbull government have outlined that they will cut $22 billion from school funding. I taught English for 11 years, not maths, but my understanding is—and I will take my advice from the member for Fenner—that if you take $30 billion with one hand and then give $22 billion back with the other, that is actually not a funding increase. My understanding is that this is just a misrepresentation by those opposite. What does it mean? What will it mean for Australian families?

A $22 billion cut to education is equivalent to a cut of $2.4 million for every school in Australia over the next decade. That is on average; I understand you need to drill down to find the details. But it does not take much drilling to understand why 90 per cent of the schools in Australia—those represented by state school bodies and Catholic school bodies—are upset about the Turnbull government's funding model. It is faux Gonski 2.0 that does not actually deliver sector-blind, needs based funding, which was what the original expert panel was all about. In the media today, we see that the Catholic schools have said they have absolutely no confidence in Prime Minister Turnbull's school funding policy. When you betray the contract that the Howard government had with middle-class and aspiring Catholics, you know you are in deep trouble!

We know that it is unfair that there are funding cuts for public schools while many private schools get multimillion dollar increases. This is going back a decade or so to the old funding models that did deliver fairness. Remember, Gonski approached it as a banker and through the eyes of an economist, and looked for productivity gains rather than, with respect to my colleagues, as a bleeding heart teacher. He saw it as an economic gain for Australia. He saw that the investment in needs-based funding would deliver the best outcome for the Australian economy. This is the Turnbull government's schools policy, where private schools get 80 per cent of their version of fair funding, while public schools get just 20 per cent. We know it is particularly unfair for the Northern Territory and a couple of other areas.

I point out to those opposite, who keep going on about 27 secret deals, that we are a federation. We have this thing called the Constitution, and that means we do not just hand money straight over to the Catholics or the Lutherans or whoever. We have to go through a proper constitutional process. I do know that it is unfair that, in the state of Queensland, public schools will lose $730 million under the Turnbull government's schools policy.

We know that those opposite have been caught out. We know that by listening to what Senator Back, Senator Abetz, the member for Menzies in Victoria and many others are saying about this. This is a disaster, a slow motion train wreck, with the Prime Minister wearing the engineer's cap. It is a disaster.

We need to get it right. Dare I say it, we got this right six years ago. We had this battle and were on the road to getting an egalitarian outcome for Australia, where we get the smartest people getting the best chance in life, where parents who are prepared to invest extra in choice are not punished for that and where, no matter what the sign is above the school gate, the kids will get the best possible chance in life. Sadly, the Turnbull government's schools policy is not fair; it is not sector blind; it is not needs based; it is a disaster. We will keep fighting for every child in every school so that they have an opportunity to reach their educational— (Time expired)

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