Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Reverend Anthony Fisher, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, has said of government education policy:

… the government's new "capacity to pay formula" will force fee rises of over $1000 for a very significant number … of the Catholic primary schools in Sydney … For some areas of Sydney fees could more than double. Modelling in other states has found the same.

Does the Prime Minister agree or disagree with the archbishop?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. The funding for the Catholic sector will increase substantially. It will grow at around 3.7 per cent over the period. There will be more money going into Catholic schools and that is readily demonstrable on the website. If the proposition is that the Catholic system is receiving billions of additional dollars over the period, and if the proposition is that they are receiving that additional money and fees will have to go up at some schools, then presumably fees would go down at others.

The reality is this: what the government is doing is significantly increasing the funding to government and, indeed, to non-government schools. That is what is happening. That is what is going on across the board. I can provide the actual percentages. Over the period of the plan, we will see substantial growth in all parts of the system—in government schools and in non-government schools. What that will mean is that it will be allocated on the basis of need.

If the Catholic system wishes to reallocate money according to its own objectives, its own agenda and its own perception of need, it is perfectly able to do that, as is noted on the government's website. The allocation is being done based on a school's educational need and capacity to pay, in the manner that I have described. Then, of course, a school that is part of a system can reallocate as it wishes.