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

I have two questions for the minister. The first one is about the take-up rate of people embracing the changes in the childcare sector. I have a concern about the information message getting out to people. I do see government advertisements at the moment, but they're not on that particular change—unless I'm looking at the wrong TV advertisements, not that I see much TV. I'd be interested to know what the take-up rate is now. The 1st of July is coming very rapidly, and I'm concerned that people are going to get ambushed by that.

The next question is more to do with high school and primary education, particularly primary education, and the theme of question time today to do with aspiration. In my former life, after high school, I started as a high school teacher. I taught English for 11 years. Since then, I've always seen education as the great opportunity in life. I was the first person in my family, a family of 10 children, to get a university degree. Because of that, and the opportunity that came with education, I've always seen lives change by investing in education. We know the productivity gains that are there. We know that when we had a focus on what was wrong with our education system, or what we could do better, we had recommendations, and the expert panel said to look at needs based education funding that was sector blind. Irrespective of what the sign was over the gate of the school—whether it was a Christian school, a Catholic school, a state school, a grammar school, a private Aboriginal school like the Murray School in my electorate—what could we do that would improve the chances in life for those children? It was sector blind, needs based education funding.

I have a particular concern about the flow-on of funds coming from the Turnbull government decision to move away from sector blind, needs based education funding. I don't know about the Gold Coast, but I'm particularly concerned about some of the inner-city poor Catholic schools, as a good example. In my electorate that would be St Brendon's, Our Lady of Fatima, and even St Thomas More, the high school, to a certain extent. These are the sorts of schools that are taking battlers and that don't have a great fee base. In fact, the Catholic education system, because of their mission, are often carrying a lot of parents and not receiving any fees from some of those parents—not just in places like Palm Island, Thursday Island and Cunnamulla and some of those more remote parts of the Catholic education system, but even, as I've said, in schools like St Brendon's in Moorooka and Our Lady of Fatima in Acacia Ridge. They're doing it tough without a big fee base, and I think they're going to be particularly hit by the changes in education funding as it rolls out. I know there's been a bit of agitation about it. I think there are some articles in the papers today about this. I think there are also some Christian schools—some of those poorer Christian schools. Brisbane Christian College in my electorate is not quite in that category, but I think there'd be a few on the northern part of the Gold Coast that would be the new struggling Christian schools that don't have the systemic support. I think they're going to be hit significantly by these changes in education funding. I know Queensland education more than the other states, but I'm sure there'd be learnings from other states. I'd ask the minister if she could report back on how these schools have indicated they're prepared to accommodate these changes.

The Queensland Catholic Education Commission has a role for administering Commonwealth funds. The basic plan is that the Commonwealth gives them the money and they distribute it across the diocese so that, basically, some of the wealthier Catholic parents are supporting some of the poorer Catholic parents. It's not really in their prospectus, but it's the sort of thing that the Queensland Catholic Education Commission could talk to you about. I suggest you talk to Lee-Anne Perry, the head of the Queensland Catholic Education Commission. She used to be the principal of All Hallow's, an inner-city school that certainly had some wealthier parents but also had a few battlers. I should declare that it's my mother's former school. Lee-Anne Perry would be good to talk to about how they're getting ready for this change in funding, and I'd like you to report back to the parliament.

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