Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have stood in this chamber and spoken before about the critical importance of providing equal access to education and its opportunities in this country. In fact, some people might cruelly say that I only have three speeches, and the education one is my favourite one. However, this topic is crucial because education is the foundation we all need in order to go on and thrive in life—in our careers and in our heads. Education opens doors and leads to prosperity, to purpose and to wellbeing. It can offer transformative opportunities. One of the key features of this nation, I think, is that education can transform our lives. We are not consigned by our birth if we have a good education. Whether you live in the middle of one of our cities or in a small community in the bush, Australians should have the same educational opportunities, and the opportunities should be the same regardless of what your parents can afford.

That is where our mighty public school system comes into play. There are more than 6,700 public primary and high schools scattered across Australia, like St George State High School, which I attended; Trinity Bay State High School, which my wife attended; and Brisbane South State Secondary College, which my son attends right now. Hopefully, he's there today! These schools, our state schools, are open to everyone. The classrooms are filled with children of different cultural, religious and language backgrounds. Public schools also cater to the most disadvantaged children in this country—students from poorer families, students from rural and remote Australia, First Nations students and students with a disability. Every gate welcomes all to pass through it.

That is why I'm pleased to support the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill. It proposes to amend the Australian Education Act and increase funding for Australia's public schools to help to ensure equality of access. Importantly, the bill protects Commonwealth funding, going forward, and ensures that it cannot go backwards. It also includes requirements for transparency about outcomes, so school communities and families can see the positive changes occurring as a result of increased funding.

The funding is part of the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement. This is due to replace the current National School Reform Agreement, which expires at the end of this year. The new agreement will run for 10 years, until the end of 2034, so it delivers much more certainty. With the joys of those four-year budgets, it's great to see a system where we will have funding certainty way out to 2034.

At the core of the new agreement is the assurance that all public schools will receive full and fair funding. It puts every public school on a path to 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard or SRS.

Now, this gets a little boring, but, as to the SRS, you need to remember the recommendation of the Gonski review back in 2011. 'Gonski'—people have heard that name. You need to remember that he was a banker. He was focused on productivity and economic reform. He wasn't a teacher or a school officer or a school aide. He was someone who saw education almost as an economic commodity—and that was a good thing, because the SRS, the schooling resource standard, is an estimate of the level of government funding that a school needs to meet the educational requirements of its students—government funding. Parents would still have to make some contributions. Theoretically, it is free, but we all know that there are some things that you need to pay extra money for.

Currently, the base amount per student is $13,570 for a primary school student and $17,053 for a high school student. David Gonski recommended additional funding, or loading, for the following cohorts: students with disability and First Nations students—and, interestingly, that was all First Nations students; even though half of First Nations students live in the cities, overall there was still some generational disadvantage in there. He also wanted more funding for those with socioeducational disadvantage and students with low English proficiency, as well as extra funding depending on the size and the location of the school. As I said, this was not because David Gonski was some bleeding-heart liberal but because he saw the economic returns that would go to business and to this nation.

The Gonski model is needs based. This means that, at non-government schools, the base amount per student is reduced and takes into account the average income of the parents at the school—not just of those in the surrounding area, but the actual data of the parents that send their kids to that school. As a result, the school may only receive a percentage of the SRS base amount. It's a better model. Take what happened in the past sometimes—like in my home town of St George, which was a disadvantaged one. Kids from St George who went to a boarding school dragged the poor postcode with them to their boarding school, and the boarding school got the advantage, I guess, of that old postcode, even though those who'd go to a boarding school were perhaps some of the wealthier people in the town. So this is trying to correct that and going to the actual parents.

Every state school gate accepts everyone in its catchment—a defined catchment. Some go a little bit broader, but the general rule is: they have their enrolment managed. But it is also true that schools look like their surrounds. So wealthier suburbs do produce wealthier schools. Battling suburbs have students that have more challenges.

The way that Commonwealth government funding is split with the states and territories is different for non-government and public schools. For non-government, it's a different arrangement. For non-government schools, the Commonwealth is responsible for 80 per cent of the funding, with the states and territories contributing 20 per cent. With public schools, the Commonwealth provides 20 per cent of the funding and the states and territories fund 75 per cent. You don't need to have passed maths at St George State High with the late, great Nick McMullen to work out that there is a five per cent shortfall.

The Albanese Labor government have been working hard to resolve this. The fabulous Minister for Education, Jason Clare, and his team are committed to getting all public schools on a path to 100 per cent of the SRS. This pathway opens up with contributions from both the Commonwealth government and the individual states and territories. The Australian Education Act currently indicates that the Commonwealth pay a maximum of 20 per cent of the SRS to public schools. This bill makes this 20 per cent a minimum, not a maximum. I see some graduates from Brisbane State High in the background there: Libby Crocker and Dene Crocker, who are still involved with Brisbane State High and the great work that it does. For all those people who go to state schools, such as Brisbane State High, what this means is that the Commonwealth proportion of funding becomes the new baseline for the states and territories. This will become legislation, meaning that the increased funding levels are confirmed and cannot be changed without further amendments to the act.

So far in 2024, the Albanese government has announced new public school funding deals with the governments of Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. This is good news for students and families and means funding certainty from 1 January next year. The road to full funding in these agreements is short and straightforward. Every public school in WA will be fully funded by 1 January 2026—good news for Western Australians, I would imagine. In Tasmania, the public schools will be fully funded by 2029.

The changes are even more substantial in the Northern Territory, an area in Australia that has a lot of educational challenges, especially once you move outside of Darwin. The Northern Territory currently receives less funding than anywhere else in Australia. It is unacceptable that students in the public schools in the Territory receive around 80 per cent less than they should get under the Gonski recommendations. The new agreement with the Territory government fixes this inequity. Funding for public schools in the Northern Territory will double—double!—and we have fast-tracked the path to full funding by more than 20 years. To repeat: the reforms in this bill mean that the new baseline level of funding from the Commonwealth for public schools will be 20 per cent in all jurisdictions except for the Northern Territory, where it will be 40 per cent from 2029 because of the special challenges.

The other part of the bill that is important is the accountability measures it puts in place for school funding. Transparency and accountability will be included as a purpose of the amended act. This includes a requirement for the Minister for Education to deliver an annual report on the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement and the states and territories. As the Minister for Education put it, the funding agreements are 'not a blank cheque'. They include reform targets, such as phonics and numeracy checks early on in a student's primary school journey so that adjustments and extra support can be provided if necessary.

Other measures include additional funding for mental health and wellbeing, with qualified staff to deliver services—something that's particularly important for those kids who went through the COVID 'hiccup', shall we say, that put them a number of years behind when it comes to educational attainment. Teaching staff and school leaders will be supported to access targeted professional development. There will be incentives for teachers to work in schools that need additional support. The states and territories will also be required to publicly deliver reports on progress, to ensure transparency.

This bill is just one part of a package of Labor reforms that support Australians in their educational journeys. We are boosting teacher numbers with an additional 4,000 places in teaching degrees and $56 million for Commonwealth teaching scholarships. Reflecting our commitment to equal access, the priority cohorts for these scholarships are First Nations people, people from the bush—rural, regional and remote areas—and people with disability.

The Albanese government has targeted the improvement of school infrastructure, particularly state school infrastructure, with $490 million for rounds 1 and 2 of the Schools Upgrade Fund for new and enhanced facilities, IT equipment and the development of outdoor learning spaces. I know that schools in my electorate have taken advantage of that scheme.

We've increased the wages of our early childhood educators, underlying our commitment to the retention and growth of this crucial workforce—something that everyone involved in the childcare sector would be appreciative of, I'm sure. It also directly benefits the 1.8 million Australian children aged zero to five, the key years for brain, language and social development—in other words, the building blocks for good health, education and wellbeing later in life.

We have also invested in higher education. The Labor government directed $2.7 million over two years, from 2022 to 2023, to conduct a 12 month review of the Australian higher education system. The result was the Australian Universities Accord. The substantial reforms already underway, include wiping $3 billion of student HELP debt, providing a prac payment for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students and expanding the fee-free university ready course program.

We've also bolstered TAFE enrolments with our fee-free TAFE initiative. This has seen over 508,000 enrolments since January last year. The program has removed financial barriers to training, while focusing on addressing the skill shortages that we were left with. I'm proud that this program will continue under a Labor government.

On the weekend, Prime Minister Albanese announced 3 million Australians with student debt will have their debt cut by 20 per cent if neighbour wins the next election. For the average student, this means a cut of more than $5,000. For some with larger debts, it's more than that. Bizarrely, the LNP opposed this policy. That's a referendum at the ballot box that will make Julie-Ann Campbell, the Labor candidate for Morton, very happy and also make Renee Coffey in Griffith very happy I would imagine, Member for Blair, to go to the election on that. If you vote Labor, university students, you get a 20 per cent discount. That's a great campaign.

We know university used to be a lot cheaper. I know that when I went to teachers' college, I went for free. In fact, I was paid to go to teachers' college! I did have to pay for my—

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