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

Can I continue to outline the additional money we're putting into education—and I know the previous member on this side, the member for Berowra, will be very pleased by this. It includes $10.8 million over three years from 2019-20 to provide a year 1 voluntary phonics health check so parents and teachers can ensure their children are not falling behind. South Australia has introduced a phonics check for grade 1, and it's something that we're encouraging every other state and territory to follow suit on. If children and parents can get an assessment at that age about where they're at when it comes to their literacy, you can give the support and the help that they need to make sure those students don't fall behind. As we know, literacy and numeracy are absolutely fundamental foundations of a child's education.

There is also $9.5 million over four years from 2019-20 for online teaching and learning courses to strengthen the capacity of teachers across Australia to teach mathematics and phonics through freely-available nationally-coordinated high-quality professional learning and resources. We want teachers to have the tools to be able to educate children when it comes to literacy and numeracy. Other initiatives include a further $5 million over three years from 2019-20 for Life Education to develop a new range of free training resources to help teachers better support the social and emotional needs of school students. There is also $4 million in 2019 to provide support for North Queensland flood-affected schools to help them address unforeseen challenges and remain financially viable as they provide support to students, families and teachers.

I announced these funding outcomes with the member for Herbert at an event in Townsville on 7 June 2019. I'm pleased that we were able to assist 25 school communities—15 independent schools and 10 Catholic schools—to recover from the floods. And I was also able to work cooperatively with the Queensland minister who also made sure that government schools received the funding that they need. They did the government schools; we looked after the non-government sector.

I know the member will also be pleased, because he is a strong supporter of this, about $2 million over two years from 2019-20 for the Australian Constitution Centre to support the establishment of a wide-reaching educational outreach program which will enable more Australian school students to obtain a greater understanding of Australia's constitutional framework. Can I commend you for the work that you did in promoting this. I think it is an excellent initiative and, when it is combined—and this hasn't been funded in the budget but it is something that we are funding—with the changes to the PACER program, it will mean more students will be able to afford to come from remote, rural and regional areas to Canberra as part of that program. These are two initiatives in that civic space which I think will make a big difference.

I don't want to go on about what the opposition says when it comes to what we are doing with regard to school funding, but I think it is incredibly important that we just put the facts on the table. In 2018 we provided $7.38 billion to government schools. In 2019 that goes to $7.98 billion; 2020, $8.66 billion; 2021, $9.31 billion; 2022, $10.1 billion; and 2023, $10.74 billion. Funding for government schools in every year that we have been in office has gone up, and we are providing an increase of 62 per cent per student. And, for all members, the government spending is growing fastest for state schools at around 6.4 per cent per student each year from 2019 to 2023. I'll just repeat that: government spending is growing fastest for state schools at around 6.4 per cent per student each year from 2019 to 2023. I thought we had put this issue to bed, but if the opposition wants to keep raising it we'll keep providing the facts.

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