Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

I move government amendment (4) on sheet QF314 standing in my name:

(4)    Clause 24, page 26 (line 16), after subclause (1), insert:

     (1A)    A funding agreement must not require a report mentioned in subsection (1) to include any information that would identify a particular donor as a funding source of any non-government school or non-government body.

This amendment relates to the reporting and disclosure of sources of income. The government will not step back from its commitment to proper transparency in relation to the resourcing of schools and the results that they achieve. However, it was never the government’s intention to require public reporting of individual donors to individual schools as part of the process. Many of the concerns raised about these issues have resulted in scaremongering tactics by the opposition. The government is proposing the public reporting of the income category of ‘source’, not the reporting of individual donations and transactions. The government is therefore prepared to amend clause 24 to explicitly state that individual donors will not be identified through public reporting of school income sources.