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

I'd like to thank the member for O'Connor for his question. I've got some very good news for the schools in his electorate—for the state schools, for the Catholic schools and for the independent schools. Record funding is going to flow to those schools.

I'm pleased to inform the House that yesterday we signed the National School Reform Agreement with Western Australia. That will mean that record education funding will flow to Western Australia. It will flow to their state schools, will flow to their Catholic schools and will flow to their independent schools. As the House knows, across Australia last year we delivered $17.5 billion for Australian schools. This year we will provide $18.7 billion. Next year it will be $19.9 billion, and the year after it will be $21.4 billion—increase, upon increase, upon increase.

When it comes to Western Australia, the Morrison government is providing $32.3 billion in recurrent funding to schools in Western Australia from 2018-29. This means an average increase of 4.7 per cent per student. For state schools it will be an increase of 6.4 per cent per student. What did the Western Australian education minister have to say about this? It's very important. Western Australian schools will see a record total of $30 billion flow into their state education system over the next six years. But, importantly, it's not just about record funding. It's also about what that record funding will lead to when it comes to outcomes and what it delivers. That is what's important as well. This is what the Western Australian education minister said:

The State Government is committed to working with the Federal Government to implement the Gonski reforms, and this positive result reinforces our support for the new model.

The reason we're able to provide this record funding is that we have a strong economy. That is the fundamental thing which underpins everything we do.

Those opposite will put that under threat. It's important, because it is the parents of those kids who are going to school and it is the grandparents of those kids who are going to school who will have to pay for the Labor costs. They will have to pay for what Labor will deliver for school funding in Australia. They will stifle and strangle the Australian economy, putting pressure on those parents and on the future prospects of those students. Here, we believe in a strong economy, which leads to better education results. Those opposite want to put all that in jeopardy. (Time expired)

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