Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that the $210 million funding cut to South Australian schools in 2018 and 2019 means that schools will face significant cuts, which the South Australian Government has estimated to include:

(a) $1,315,000 from Adelaide High School;

(b) $882,000 from Craigmore High School;

(c) $1,392,000 from Norwood Morialta High School;

(d) $1,114,000 from Gawler and District College B-12;

(e) $817,000 from Parafield Gardens High School;

(f) $1,226,000 from Paralowie School;

(g) $875,000 from Playford International College;

(h) $512,000 from Nailsworth Primary School;

(i) $731,000 from Glenelg Primary School;

(j) $24,000 from South Australian School for Vision Impaired;

(k) $1,165,000 from Roma Mitchell Secondary College;

(l) $426,000 from Port Noarlunga Primary School; and

(m) $863,000 from Thebarton Senior College; and

(2) calls on the Australian Government to immediately reinstate the funding previously committed to South Australian schools.

This motion revolves around the deal that this government—the Turnbull government; the Liberal Party—did with the Nick Xenophon Team to cut $210 million out of South Australian schools. We all know, in South Australia, the importance of well-funded schools. I've spoken in this House many times about Gonski—about the importance of the full Gonski and about the fact that the full Gonski was legislated for, which is why bills had to come through this House and the Senate to change that level of funding. That's why this is a cut, because the government legislated and the Nick Xenophon Team voted 57 times in the Senate to cut funds from South Australian schools.

For the benefit of those listening, this is the effect of that $210 million cut—because sometimes when things are shown at the macro level you don't quite understand what the impact is at the local level. In, for instance, the state seat of Elizabeth, the Adelaide North Special School lost $152,000; Blakeview Primary School lost $520,000 over two years; Craigmore High School lost $882,000 over two years; Craigmore South Primary School lost $237,000; Elizabeth Downs Primary School lost $313,000; Elizabeth East Primary School lost $252,000; Elizabeth Grove Primary School lost $248,000; Elizabeth Park Primary School lost $332,000; Elizabeth South Primary School lost $181,000; Elizabeth Vale Primary School lost $344,000; Kaurna Plains School, a school for Indigenous students, lost $81,000; Playford International College lost $875,000; Playford Primary School lost $692,000; and the South Downs Primary School, where my mother taught prior to bringing me into this world, lost $116,000. That's the effect on all of the schools in the state seat of Elizabeth. For the people in those communities, the March state election is an opportunity to send a message to the Liberal Party and to the Nick Xenophon Team about what you think about those cuts to your local schools.

Similarly, in the state seat of Playford, the East Para Primary School lost $408,000; Karrendi Primary School lost $196,000; Mawson Lakes School lost $696,000; Para Hills High School lost $456,000; Para Hills School P-7 lost $239,000; Para Hills West Primary School lost $195,000; Parafield Gardens High School lost $817,000; Parafield Gardens R-7 School lost $565,000; and the Pines School lost $571,000—again, massive cuts to local primary schools, local high schools, special schools and schools that cater for Indigenous students across the northern suburbs of Adelaide.

These are savage cuts which directly affect their capacity to educate children in our local area. They directly affect their capacity to actually deliver the NAPLAN results we want and the opportunities we want for those students. These cuts are not just to this generation of students; those cuts get locked in over time. They will affect generations of students in the north. The March 2017 election is an opportunity for every one of the residents that relies on those local schools to send a message to the Liberal Party and to Nick Xenophon to say: 'We won't accept your cuts. We want the full Gonski model. We want the full $210 million to be reinstated to help our local schools, to help our local students and to help our local communities.'

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