Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that our public schools are at the heart of our education system;

(2) notes that:

  (a) public schools teach two in three of all school students, and the overwhelming majority of Australia’s neediest children, including:

     (i) 82 per cent of the poorest children;

     (ii) 84 per cent of Indigenous children; and

     (iii) 74 per cent of children with disabilities;

  (b) under the current Government, almost nine in ten (88 per cent) of public schools will never get to their fair funding level because the Government has capped federal funding for public schools at just 20 per cent of the Schools Recommendation Scheme;

  (c) after spending a year trying to deny there were cuts, the fact the Government has restored funding to Catholic and independent schools was finally an admission that it is cutting billions of dollars from schools;

  (d) Labor has announced a plan to restore funding to public schools; and

  (e) Labor’s plan will transform public schools across Australia and give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential, no matter where they live, or what amount their parents earn; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

  (a) immediately adopt Labor’s plan to restore funding to public schools to ensure every public school reaches its fair funding level; and

  (b) work with school systems to get every school to its fair funding level.

The role of government is to govern for all Australians. Those opposite have failed in their over five years as a government to do exactly that, no more obvious than in schools and education. They have walked away from needs based, sector-blind funding. By their own admission recently, in improving the funding going to Catholic schools, they've abandoned needs based and evidence based funding because they have not made a reasonable commitment. They have not made a commitment to properly fund our state schools across this great nation.

Today I'm standing to call out the member for Wannon, the most recent Minister for Education. Of course, as with everything else with three prime ministers, we've had three Ministers for Education since I joined this place in 2013. But at the moment the Minister for Education is Dan Tehan, the member for Wannon—shamefully, a Victorian—a Victorian who doesn't understand the ramifications of his decision-making to ensure that they are not putting in the $14 billion that's required to bring state education over the next 10 years into line with what the original Gonski plan was. And we all know the importance of state education. We know that state education, that state schools, educate 82 per cent of Australia's poorest children, 84 per cent of Indigenous children and 74 per cent of children with a disability. That's how important the state education system is and how bereft of conscience this minister is that he has not been on his feet about education in recent times.

I also want to quote the member for Wannon from December last year at a conference about what's beyond year 12. He said, 'I extend an invitation to every Australian to work together to deliver a world-class education system.' Well I extend an invitation to the Minister for Education to work with all Australians, including those families, those teachers, those principles and those education support officers who work in our state education systems across this country. It is time for him to stand up.

And it's not just in schools where he is so lacking. Similarly, we find ourselves lacking in the area of early education, where this minister has not yet committed to 15 hours universal access for four-year-olds across this country beyond 2019. That is over 5,000 children in the electorate of Lalor whose families don't know what happens beyond 2019. Our local government, who provides most of our kindergartens, doesn't know if that funding is secured and that funding is guaranteed. This minister is absolutely asleep at the wheel. He needs to come out today and make that commitment. There are two commitments this country needs. It needs a commitment to 15 hours universal access to four-year-olds' kindergarten across this country and it needs a commitment to put back into our state schools across this country the $14 billion.

In Lalor, as I said, there are 5,000 four-year-olds, a lot of whom are from low socioeconomic families and from families where English is not their first language who could do with that year of kindergarten before they start school. In Lalor state schools, that's $31 million over three years. I know, as a former principal and teacher, what that $31 million would mean for the 56 schools in my electorate—56 schools! Those teachers, those children and those families deserve access to funds that we know will make a difference. That is in contrast to the minister, who either doesn't have the ticker to get in and fight for this in cabinet or doesn't have the clout to deliver it in cabinet. He needs to find both this week to deliver.

I want to mention too the fabulous announcement this morning from the member for Sydney around the support for the best and brightest to go into teaching. It was my first choice of career. It was my first choice. I wanted to be a teacher and I was a teacher and a principle for 27 years. Every day of teaching was a great profession. I got up every morning to go and assist young people set themselves up for their future. This minister needs to take that into consideration.

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