Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to stand here today and say that this government is providing record funding for state schools, it's providing record funding for Catholic schools and it's providing record funding for independent schools. I will just go to that record funding for state schools because I think it's really important that we make clear what that is. Last year we provided $6.8 billion. This year it will be $7.3 billion. It will be $7.9 billion next year and $8.6 billion the year after that. As a matter of fact, from 2017 to 2027, Commonwealth funding to state schools will grow by 86 per cent. There's an important point to note here as well. As I mentioned in question time, according to the Productivity Commission, since 2006, on a per-student basis, Commonwealth funding to state schools has increased by 78.5 per cent. This is compared to a 7.7 per cent increase in the contribution from the state and territory governments. The Commonwealth's commitment to state schools is absolute. As someone who attended a Catholic primary school, a state high school and then a Catholic boarding school, I want to make sure that we are providing funding to the Catholic sector, the state sector and the independent sector, because it's incredibly important.

That's why it was a great honour today to be able to, with the Prime Minister, announce the package that we've just agreed with the Catholic sector and the independent sector for ongoing funding for the non-government sector. I just place on the record again my thanks to the Catholic sector and the independent sector for the good faith they showed throughout those negotiations. When I became minister nearly four weeks ago, I obviously needed to build on the work that had been done by my predecessor, Simon Birmingham. Building on that foundation and being able to deliver the package that we did today was made all the easier through the excellent way that both the independent sector and the Catholic sector were prepared to negotiate in very good faith.

I just want to run through, for those here in the House and for those listening, what these new arrangements are. We've extended the 2018 interim arrangements to 2019. We've made some minor adjustments around the ability for the independent sector and the Catholic sector to use 2011 or 2016 census data. That was part of the Chaney review. So that will mean that, in total, there will be $170 million extra funding for the non-government sector for 2019. We then agreed to what we would do with regard to the Chaney review, which had six recommendations. Of those six recommendations, the most important was the transition to a direct measure of personal income tax, the data which would be used being the capacity to contribute. The government has accepted all the recommendations of the Chaney review. I say to Michael Chaney and his board: Thank you for the work that you've done. You had to deal with a very complex area and you did it in a way which I think gave the government some very clear recommendations for moving forward.

We've been able to agree with the non-government sector as to how we will do that. It means that at the school level they can transition to PIT scores commencing in 2020, with individual schools able to opt in in 2021 or 2022, and all schools, based on PIT data, from 2022. So all schools will have opted in by 2022. Schools that start above 80 per cent of the SRS transition will be able to phase down to 80 per cent by 2029, and schools that start below 80 per cent will transition up by 2023. It is a very sensible way of introducing these new measures.

In the third part of the agreed arrangements, we are going to establish a choice and affordability fund for the non-government sector. The words 'choice and affordability' are incredibly important, because we want to ensure, right across Australia, that parents have the ability to have choice, and affordable choice. Whether they're in an inner-city area or whether they're in a rural or remote area, we want to ensure that that choice is there. That's what this fund will do. It's a sector-blind fund. It's going to be very important in ensuring that choice will continue to be there for parents over the coming decade.

From my own schooling experience, I know how important that choice is, but I also know that from my own electorate. I spoke today of the town of Penshurst in my electorate and the choice that's offered there from both the state school and the Catholic primary school. With a population of 750, there are six students who get a very good education at the state school and there are approximately 35 students who get a very good education at the Catholic school. It's incredibly important that those parents in that town get a choice. It is just as important when it comes to school offerings in remote parts of the Northern Territory. We have to ensure that they, too, can get choice. That choice needs to come in a way that is affordable for members in that community. That's what this fund will do.

As I mentioned in question time as well, it will also help the delivery of choice and affordable choice when it comes to those who are impacted by things like drought. As we've seen in New South Wales and Queensland, the impact of the drought has been incredibly devastating on many communities and on many farmers. I know this was something that really hit home with the Prime Minister when he visited drought affected areas. One of the things he heard directly from farmers was that, given the financial difficulty that they're now facing, they were very concerned and worried that they wouldn't be able to continue with their children's education. For many parents, when faced with hardship, that would be the last thing you would want to do or feel like you were being forced to do. It's incredibly important that we have a fund like the one that's been created so that, in times like those that New South Wales and Queensland are faced with, parents can have the option of affordable choice, whether it be in the Catholic sector or in the independent sector.

It is fantastic to be able to stand here today and say that this government has a clear agenda when it comes to school policy. We have a reform agenda, which we saw with the very important agreement that came out of the Education Council meeting last Friday. There are bilateral negotiations that now need to follow on from that. We have also seen it through the work that we were able to do over the last four weeks, building on the work of my predecessor, to make sure that Catholic and independent schools have funding certainty and record levels of funding which will enable them to continue to offer affordable choice. As importantly, as I've outlined in the growth figures, the Commonwealth is providing for government schools as well—public schools and state schools. That funding grows year on year on year. It was $6.8 billion last year. It will be $7.3 billion this year, $7.9 billion next year and $8.6 billion the year after that.

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