Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable the Deputy Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Government's failure to properly fund Australian schools.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The proper funding of our schools so that every child in every school in every part of Australia can truly achieve their potential is a matter of definite public importance today and every day. Today we saw the results of a study of the trends in international mathematics and science, which showed that Australian students' results have been flatlining for two decades. While we have been flatlining, students in countries around the world have been overtaking ours and achieving much better results in years 4 and 8 than our Australian students. In fact, Australia has fallen as by as much as 10 places in global rankings since the last survey just five years ago, with Kazakhstan and Slovenia now outperforming us.

I used to hate it when Kim Beazley used to say 'even Slovenia has better, faster internet than Australia'. Slovenia is a terrific country—it is where my parents are from—but the gross domestic product per capita of Slovenia is about US$21,000 a year. The gross domestic product per person in Kazakhstan is about US$10½ thousand per year. I have used US dollars for the sake of comparison. In Australia, that figure is about $56,000, so you can see why I say it is extraordinary that countries such as Slovenia and Kazakhstan are able to invest in a way that has seen their kids overtake Australian kids in maths and science.

Dr Sue Thomson from the Australian Council for Educational Research says this a wake-up call. She says:

We're the middle of the pack, our achievement is average … and if we continue to accept that we are doing a disservice to future generations …

From these results, we know that there are particular groups of kids who are really struggling. We know that kids in remote communities, Indigenous kids, kids from non-English-speaking backgrounds and kids from poorer households are really struggling. That is exactly the reason we introduced a Gonski needs-based funding system. We introduced it so that we could direct the greatest resources to the kids that needed the most help.

We also see from this work that kids who are gifted and talented are not achieving their full potential. If you look at a system like Singapore's, so many more of their high-achieving kids really achieve at the top band. In Australia, those figures are disappointing. That is why we said that the needs-based education funding system should not only help the poorest kids, the kids who are struggling; it should also mean that kids who are gifted and talented can get the help they need to make the most of their gifts.

It is also why we said we were not just going to put extra funding in; we were going to attach conditions to that extra funding. We attached conditions about improving teacher quality, improving teacher training, giving principals more say in their schools—a whole range of conditions. What is really disappointing from this government is not just that they have cut $30 billion from our schools—and that is pretty disappointing—but that they have also cut the transparency and accountability and school improvement measures.

We wanted to achieve more with this extra funding. Christopher Pyne, when he was the education minister, said, 'I'm not going to interfere with how schools run themselves.' We said at the last election that with our extra funding we wanted to get Australia back into the top five in the world for maths, reading and science. We were determined to improve school completion rates. We were determined to see better-trained teachers—and more of them—more students studying maths or science to year 12, more coding in schools and better support for students with a disability.

The schools I have visited in the early years of the flow-out of the needs-based funding are already seeing the results delivered in their schools. Merrylands school, in the shadow Treasurer's electorate, has doubled the proportion of its kids being offered places in university. I visited Minimbah school in Armidale in the Deputy Prime Minister's electorate, which has hired more Aboriginal teachers because they think it is really important for their Aboriginal kids to have the great role models that those teachers provide. We see those improvements everywhere we go.

What is really frustrating is the remarkable inconsistency of those opposite. In 2012 we saw plenty of Liberals prepared to stand up beside teachers and parents in their communities with pictures such as the one I have here that says 'I give a Gonski' and pretend that they supported needs-based funding in their schools.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sydney will resume her seat. Any more props and I will be getting people to leave under standing order 94(a).

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They were very happy to get the publicity back in the day but, in early 2013, the then shadow education minister described Labor's plan to properly fund schools as a 'conski' and said that they were never going to have a bar of it; they were not going to put a dollar into it. It was so unpopular with teachers and parents and other people who care about kids that, just a month before the 2013 election, they had to completely reverse themselves—completely back out. They had to say, 'not a dollar difference'. They had to say they were on a unity ticket with Labor on schools funding. In fact, they even paid for posters to be made for their electorates for election day.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney will resume her seat. I call the member for Mitchell.

An honourable member interjecting—

I warned about using props. I will not have this House made a mockery of. The member for Sydney will resume her seat. I call the member for Mitchell.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance, because the government regards education funding as very important. Today it is concerning, as the Prime Minister said, when we do see—

Ms Ryan interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lalor will remove herself under 94(a). She is out of her place and she is out of order.

The member for Lalor then left the chamber.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is an example of exactly the kind of poor behaviour that Australians are turning against—this sort of sham protesting, faux outrage. They are not here for an intelligent, sensible debate, but are instead holding up shameless props—which do not say anything, mind you, because if you listen to this debate carefully and you follow what is going on, if you listened to the Prime Minister today— (Quorum formed) Of course, it is good to have all my friends and colleagues here to talk about the importance of education spending, because this is a government that is spending record amounts of funding on education in Australia today. And it is to the eternal shame of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that she storms out of here in a hissy fit because she is not allowed to use props in relation to a debate. They are the rules of this chamber, and the rules of this chamber apply to all members equally because we are here to debate intelligent points.

When you consider that this government is spending record amounts of money in education—every year, every Australian government has increased education funding in Australia. And it is, of course, a fact today that we are still seeing results in international standards and international terms in important subjects like maths and reading and writing that are not living up to the amounts of money that the government is spending. If you listen to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, the bells are still ringing outside, as though the quorum is still on. We have a member here on his feet as though the parliament is happening.

Mr Hawke interjecting—

No, I am not blaming you. I am just referring to the chaos that is going on in this building at the moment.

Government members interjecting—

Mr Deputy Speaker, a point of order. You have a number of members there who are interjecting out of their seats. I ask you to take the same action with them as you took with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. No. It is highly disorderly under House of RepresentativesPractice. You know who they were. The member for Goldstein was one of them. They just interjected out of their seats, which is highly disorderly. Under standing orders they must be kicked out, and you have to have the same level of responsibility that you took against the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That decision is up to the person in the chair. That is me. Is there anything else on the point of order?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will wait to hear how you rule on it, but it is highly disorderly. Practice is stronger on very few issues than on members interjecting out of their seats, and that member and a number of his colleagues were not only interjecting out of their seats, but were interjecting while they were standing along there like some football mob. They were just shouting out and treating the parliament no differently from the behaviour we were complaining about from people in the public gallery. You will set the standards of this House, Deputy Speaker. You will set the standards on how you rule on this issue and whether the same rules you put on the Deputy Leader of the Opposition apply to your colleagues on that side.

Honourable members interjecting—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (15:51): Order! Order! Order! The member for Mitchell will resume his seat. I will make a statement. During the MPI, members will be aware, I have shown a great degree of leniency over the last time that I have been in the chair with things that could be considered disorderly. I did warn about the use of props and, as to why the bells were still ringing after the end of the quorum, I am not sure. I now call the member for Mitchell on a point of order.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the point of order of the Manager of Opposition Business: he was not present in the chamber, did not see the events and, if he was present in the chamber, he would understand what this was about. The Deputy Speaker correctly warned members opposite that the use of props was not allowed in the chamber. It is a longstanding practice of this chamber. You correctly advised them that if—and you further warned them that—

Opposition members interjecting—

I am speaking to the point of order; I am allowed to do so. You further warned them that, if they again used props in this House, they would leave the chamber. We were here. This was the proper functioning of the chair of the House—absolutely proper functioning—and, further, you were lenient on the deputy leader of the opposition when she reflected on the chair as she voluntarily left the chamber. She was not removed from the chamber; she voluntarily left.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Mitchell—

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You absolutely acted correctly.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will just refer to a completely different point of order: I raised the issue. I came in here to raise the issue about the bells ringing outside. When I was on my feet, I raised a second point of order about the highly disorderly conduct of those opposite and I asked for your ruling on whether they would be ejected.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My ruling is they will not be ejected.

Debate interrupted.