Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to welcome to the House the students of St John's, Dapto, who are enjoying a tour of parliament today as part of their education. I met with them earlier today and had the great benefit of being grilled by them on my role. I know the teachers at that school are doing an absolutely sensational job of educating these students.

Against this background I was deeply concerned on Friday to receive a letter from Peter Turner, the Director of Schools of the Diocese of Wollongong. He says in this letter:

Dear Stephen

The Catholic School System in NSW has been rocked by the planned announcement from the State Government to cut recurrent grants to NSW non-government schools by $66.7 million per year, beginning next year.

Catholic schools in the Diocese of Wollongong educate more than 22,000 students from Kindergarten to year 12.

In this letter he seeks my support in this parliament for his cause in resisting this matter and, can I say, he has it. It makes absolutely no sense at a time when we as a nation are debating how we can put more money into the school system that is to increase the size of the school funding bucket that we have premiers like the Premier of New South Wales and his Minister for Education going around with the biggest chisel and hammer they can find and putting a dirty big hole in the bottom of that school funding bucket. We on this side of the House are committed to ensuring that we have a decent funding system for school education in this city. The Premier of New South Wales and his education minister deserve to be condemned.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the Killarney and Allora schools from my electorate that are currently in the gallery.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!