Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Skills) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to question the government on their education spending. For a party who loves to say, 'If you have a go, you will get a go,' this budget does so little to give our kids a go. There's no more crucial role for government than delivering an education system which acts as the greatest social equaliser and offers the best chance at opportunities for anyone who wants to take it. On that measure, the budget gets a big F for fail.

In my electorate of Cooper, education is the No. 1 issue raised with me. Labor's policy of offering free kinder to three- and four-year-olds would have been life-changing, parents told me. Yet here the minister sings the government's praises of their policy. We know that they're only funding preschool on a year-by-year basis, which leaves little hope for the teachers, parents and kids in that sector that there's any future for it. Labor wants to see real needs based, sector-blind funding for all schools so that all kids at every school get a great education, but that premise fails when you fail to properly fund schools and public schools in particular.

The Liberals have ripped $14 billion from public-school funding, so nine in 10 schools across the country will never reach their fair funding level. Little wonder we see our results in the basics—reading, writing and maths—going backwards in every state and territory. That is why we are angry that this budget and the election of another Liberal government locks in an inequitable funding formula. Let's be clear: this is for the schools that teach two-thirds of Australian children, the majority of children in remote and rural areas, the majority of Indigenous children, the majority of children with a disability and the majority of children from a CALD background. These kids are missing out under this Liberal government. How are the kids at these schools supposed to have a go when their government systematically underfunds them?

Labor had a plan to fix this. Labor would have restored the $14 billion, especially for public schools who have had that money ripped away from them under the Liberals. With this money, and increased autonomy for principals, public schools would have been able to deliver smaller class sizes, more teachers and more one-to-one attention. But, perhaps more crucially for schools in my electorate, this boost in funding could have been used to deliver additional supports like speech pathologists, social workers and family liaison officers as well as smaller class sizes and additional teachers. Without additional supports, our teachers are more stretched than ever, and it's showing in our declining education results. To support our students, we need to let teachers teach and we need to provide enough funding to ensure schools have wraparound services.

The other key issue for schools in my electorate is the dire need for building works. Many public schools are quite simply falling down. This budget contains a measly $30.2 million from which every public, independent and Catholic school in Australia has to compete for one-off grants of between $1,000 and $20,000. Compare this to Labor's commitment of $260 million in local school commitments to give schools in every electorate the upgrades they need.

Worse, this government has a special fund, called the Capital Grants Program, that's for private schools, and that will deliver $1.9 billion in grants from 2018 to 2027. There's no equivalent fund for public schools. In the last two years alone, more than $311 million has already been allocated to 314 private schools. A recent ABC investigation revealed the stark and shocking disparity in the levels of capital expenditure in Australian schools. Between 2013 and 2017 the four richest schools in the country spent more on facilities and renovations than the poorest 1,800 schools combined.

Those opposite see this portfolio as a place holder—something to cut and somewhere to find savings. We on this side of the chamber understand the value of education. We see this portfolio as a way of building aspiration and productivity and of unlocking creativity and potential in the future of our nation.

When we announced Labor's funding, I spoke to Thornbury High School's principal, Michael Keenan. He told me that such a substantial funding increase would make a difference to Thornbury High School in helping them achieve their twin goals of equity and excellence. All students would have benefited. Every student, no matter where they are in their learning journey, deserves an outstanding, fully-resourced education—that was the principal of Thornbury High School in my electorate. They have two goals: equity and excellence—goals this budget so badly fails. After six years, how can the Australian people expect good or improved results if this budget locks in inequities through funding?

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