Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. I refer her to the answer I gave yesterday about the increase in funding allocated by the Commonwealth to that school. I am sorry that she was not in the House to hear it, owing to a her transmissions of regular interjections being interrupted by an objection.

I have inquired of the minister. There has not been, I am advised, any reduction in the amount of funding per student allocated by the Commonwealth in respect of the school at Fregon. The honourable member knows that the My School site shows the amount of Commonwealth funding that a state decides to allocate to a particular school, not the amount of money the Commonwealth determines should be given to the state in respect of that school.

I am glad the honourable member is listening. There are two figures here. Firstly, the Commonwealth have to assess the needs of the school and determine the amount of funding, and we are doing that now thoroughly, transparently and consistently. If the money goes to a state government or, indeed, to a Catholic school system, it goes in one block and that system—be it a state, a Catholic or another system—is able to allocate it as they wish.

The point is that the funding amount in My School is determined by the state government. It is the amount of Commonwealth funding that it allocates. I repeat: the amount of funding allocated by the Commonwealth per student for Fregon is increasing—it is increasing on the basis that is set out in the estimator. The state of South Australia has, apparently, chosen to allocate more Commonwealth funding to that school and presumably less to other schools, otherwise their total funding package would not add up. That is the answer. It is very clear. The Commonwealth's allocation of funding to that school has been consistent and growing.

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