Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand here today confident that every single member of this House believes in the power of education and the important role it plays in the social fabric of our society and delivering opportunity for all. It is only through education that we can provide opportunity to our children and transform their lives for the better. In the words of distinguished American scientist and academic, George Washington Carver, 'Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom'. As legislators and representatives, it is our responsibility to create an education system that is designed not only for the benefit of students today but also for the students of tomorrow. It is for future generations that we must establish both a sustainable education system and one that delivers strong educational outcomes.

I confess that I am pretty shocked at the audacity of this bill from Bill. Its central claim is that schools funding is being cut from WA and the Northern Territory. The truth is somewhat different.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker: members must refer to other members by their title, not by their name.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition. The truth is somewhat different. The federal coalition government has put an additional $1.2 billion of funding into schools in WA and the Northern Territory over the forward estimates—money that the previous Labor government refused to commit, despite agreeing to funding increases in the other states. This would have meant that WA and Northern Territory students would have missed out. We have restored the balance, taking our overall funding commitment to $64.5 billion in government and non-government schools over the next four years. This means that from 2013-14 to 2017-18 total Commonwealth funding to all schools in Australia, as outlined in the 2014-15 budget papers, will have increased by 37 per cent—a $4.6 billion increase.

But we would be making a grave and serious mistake if we believed, as some do, that the more money you spend, the better the educational outcome. The fact is that under the previous Labor government, despite massively increasing spending, according to the World Economic Forum, Australia's education standards have dropped significantly. According to the report: quality of primary education slipped from 12th in the world to 22nd, quality of maths and science education slipped from 24th in the world to 37th, availability of research and training services slipped from 16th in the world to 23rd, and overall quality of education system slipped from 8th in the world to 23rd. These statistics were reinforced by the world Programme for International Student Assessment—PISA—rankings, which showed a similar decline.

If Labor's approach of spending borrowed money did not lead to better results in the past, why does the Leader of the Opposition think that throwing even more borrowed money in the future will somehow break this trend?

Nobel prizewinner Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The truth is we all need to break the trend in declining outcomes by looking at all the factors that are contributing to this phenomenon and addressing those directly.

International comparisons are useful; take, for example, South Korea. South Korea is ranked second overall as the world's best performing educational system, yet the Korean government spends less per student than the OECD average. The Grattan Institute concluded that teacher training and teacher mentoring was critical to their success. This example demonstrates that it is not simply the quantum of funding that delivers the best outcome for students but the focus on how those resources are best channelled. Our approach to education has been to look at what is working around the world and put together a comprehensive plan to improve educational outcomes.

As part of the government's Students First policy the government is working with the states and territories to focus on four key areas which make a real difference to students: improving teacher quality; increasing school autonomy; engaging parents in education; and strengthening the curriculum. What we will not do is put huge sums of unfunded spending beyond the forward estimates in the knowledge that the promises made will never have to be delivered upon. That is an irresponsible path.

We will act as a responsible government focused on the students of today and tomorrow rather than political point-scoring. It would be good if the opposition would do the same.

Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What an absolute load of nonsense we have just heard from the member for Higgins. What we have seen in the last five minutes is confirmation that all the statements the coalition made in the lead-up to the election about school funding and education were nothing more than a total con. It was a sham. They went out there across every electorate in the country telling the Australian public about the absolute unity ticket they were on with Labor when it came to school funding. What we can see in them opposing this bill is confirmation that it was nothing more than a cruel manipulation of the Australian public in the search for votes—votes which they have now taken for granted and thrown aside as if they never really meant a word they were saying.

Let us be very clear about what this bill, the Australian Education Amendment (School Funding Guarantee) Bill 2014, does: all that this bill is asking is that, if state and Territory governments are receiving funds from the Commonwealth for school funding, they in return make a very simple guarantee that they will not just cut their own school funding so that no school is better off at all. This is not unreasonable; it is not radical; it does not cost the Commonwealth government a single cent—yet we hear from the member for Higgins that it is too much to do, because what this government has actually set about doing is seeing that school funding does get cut. They are putting in place the biggest cut to school funding in this nation's history and, in addition to that, they are out there actively encouraging the states and territories to start cutting their school funding and cutting it immediately.

We see here why the Prime Minister who, before the election, was prepared to make a guarantee that no school would be worse off has now refused to repeat that guarantee in the parliament. He is now coming up with weasel words saying no school would be worse off as a result of the federal government's actions. Let us be very clear: the federal government is acting to oppose this bill and by doing so will make sure that every school in the country is worse off. What we can see is that it is just another broken promise—another guarantee that has been thrown aside.

There is something very critical to schools across Australia that this parliament needs to recognise. When the current government said that they would match Labor's school funding dollar for dollar, when they said they would honour the agreements that Labor had entered into, that meant that all those conditions that went with federal funding would be kept in place. That is not what this government has done at all. What this government has done is give a green light to every state and territory government to start cutting their school budgets. What this government has done is stand up here and brag about having no-strings-attached agreements even though there is no guarantee that schools will not get substantially less money because the Commonwealth is letting the state governments off the hook. We know that, now they have tossed the Gonski agreements out the door, states no longer have to match every additional $2 of Commonwealth funding with $1 of their own—leaving every school worse off. States no longer even have to guarantee they will not cut their own school budgets. In this budget we see that they have added insult to injury. In this year's budget $30 billion has been cut from Australian school funding—the biggest cut in this nation's history. Now we see why they have been bragging about their no-strings-attached proposal. They are actively encouraging and, indeed, in some cases forcing, state governments to start cutting funds to our schools right now.

Members opposite should be very clear what they would be voting for if they vote against this bill. They would be voting for teacher cuts, for programs to be shut down, for less literacy and numeracy support, for fewer choices when it comes to language, for less sport and for less music. They would be voting to see the decline in Australia's school systems. We as a parliament have a responsibility to make sure that every school across this country is a great school. We as a parliament have a responsibility to stand up for the word that was given to the Australian public that we would put in place a sector-blind, needs-based funding system.

We have seen in the last week the education minister talking about the emotional commitment that the government have to private schools that they just do not have for public schools. I say to those opposite: stand up for quality education no matter what school, no matter what area and no matter what state and territory. They can begin to do that by supporting this very simple piece of legislation. If they vote against this legislation, if this parliament does not support this, they are saying they support state governments cutting school funding and cutting school funding now. You can mark my words, we will remind the local residents at every school every time there is a cut to funding of how the coalition— (Time expired)

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.