Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great privilege and opportunity to speak directly to the constituents of Goldstein about the benefits that will be secured through the government's Gonski 2.0 reforms. There are 22,733 students in the federal electorate of Goldstein across the government, independent non-government as well as Catholic education systems. I am pleased to report that all will be enjoying funding increases as a result of the Turnbull Liberal government's increases in federal government funding. In fact, from 2017 government school funding will increase from $27.2 million to $33.6 million. Catholic education will go from $21.6 million to $24.8 million by 2021. The independent sector will go from $21.3 million to $25 million in 2021. As a result of this package of reforms, we have seen a substantial investment by the federal government in the continuing support for government education, the independent non-government sector as well as the Catholic education sector. I have had a number of constituents contact me directly about their concerns following some information provided to them by the Catholic Education Commission in Victoria, which I believe to be deeply misleading. It is disappointing to see that misleading information provided to them and, more to the point, being picked up by the Labor Party and run as some sort of narrative. All the data that are shown to me, and are clearly available on the federal government's education funding estimator, show that every single school in the Goldstein electorate—Catholic, independent non-government as well as state—will receive more federal government funding as a result of this reform. In fact, some of the data are really quite encouraging.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College in Bentleigh, for instance, will go from getting $4.8 million in 2017 to $10,296,800 by 2027 in total. St Finbar's in Brighton will go from getting total government funding of $1,351,000 to $2.8 million over the same time frame. What is very important for parents and families is that part of this reform is not just to increase funding, though that is an important part of the discussion; it is tying that funding and long-term commitment for schools to plan but also to be able to make sure that it is tied directly to improvements in student outcomes. The federal government has commissioned David Gonski to do a further review to make sure that every dollar that is spent is not just another dollar into a school but a dollar invested into the outcomes and improvements of children's education.