Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools) Share this | Hansard source

Because I'm quite fond of the minister, I'm going to start by offering him some friendly advice. Whatever you do, Minister, do not take up the invitation by the member for Sydney for a debate on schools policy. You will be utterly humiliated. What we've seen from the minister here was a defence of his deal that's about as passionate as it could have been. It was utterly lacking in feeling. That's what's so wrong with this government's approach to school funding. This minister and this government are trying to fix the wrong problem. They're trying to fix their own political problem of their own making, not the concerns of Australian students and their families. That can be illustrated by one thing in the minister's contribution just now—10 very long minutes, I think we'll all agree—and his answers in question time, because the minister mentioned only one student: Dan Tehan. You were in school a long time ago, Minister. On this side of the House, we are concerned about students today and students tomorrow, not about looking back at our own schooling experience to justify this deal.

We on this side of the House support needs-based, sector-blind schools funding not because it's a good thing in and of itself but because it is the means to an end. That end is a better society and a more productive economy. As the member for Sydney said so effectively in her contribution, it's about enabling reforms that will secure more teachers and better teachers, more support staff and more one-on-one attention to kids who need it, to give every child in every state and territory, in every schooling system, every chance of fulfilling their potential at school, which is so closely connected to their potential in life. For us it is a moral imperative to make sure that talent is not wasted and that every child gets that chance through a quality schooling system, but also it's at the core of our vision for a stronger Australian economy and a stronger Australian society. It is just galling and appalling that this government looks away from too many students.

We welcome these arrangements insofar as they make a bad situation slightly better, but I think this arrangement that we're discussing now can only be characterised in the following manner: it's too late, it's too little and it affects too few of our kids. It leaves untouched 2.5 million Australian kids in our public schools, who have to consider, particularly in jurisdictions like Tasmania, the Northern Territory and South Australia, that they do not have a pathway to reaching the schooling resource standard. These kids are being actively left behind by the decisions of this government.

Minister Birmingham—whom the minister at the dispatch box a minute ago thanked—of course fixed the school funding wars two years ago! We remember that, don't we? He fixed it! What is the point of this? The member for Sturt is another fixer. This government is only fixing political problems of its own making. The member for Sydney was right to take government members back to the 2013 election and their commitment to match our funding commitments dollar for dollar in every school in every sector—another broken promise. This is an empty agenda when it comes to schools. Even on its own terms, it fails.

I have before me today's media release from the National Catholic Education Commission, which is a very qualified statement in support and no doubt expresses the frustration of systemic Catholic schools, as well as independents, about the difficult attitude of this government to this fundamental policy area. They talk about the changes going a long way to fixing the problems, not fixing the problems, and they reserve their rights in terms of the long-term arrangements supporting the government policy objectives. They aren't there. Anyone who looks at the actual Gonski 2.0 review will understand that the measures endorsed there require more funding.

This government says it has walked away from its company tax cuts but the proof of it is pretty simple I reckon. They could put the $17 million that's earmarked for the four big banks into our schools. They could fix the whole schools funding mess and put forward a pathway to schools reform. They could attend the COAG meeting. What an absolute joke! This is a government that abdicates its most fundamental responsibilities. They won't even sit down with the people who operate our schooling systems to discuss this reform or any reform agenda. The member for Sydney was right, we are going back to the future. Stripping five years of education away from our kids is not good enough. This minister and his government stand condemned.

See this speech in context