Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, you have already indicated that you will give me the assurances which I sought. I thought that if I could get those assurances and just understand on what basis those assurances are given then I will be out of the debate and will leave it to people who have a lot of amendments and other issues to raise. But, Minister, I would not accept you are well versed and competent to do it, and I will say a few things while your officials are getting here. I am very concerned, on advice from those involved, that this bill will mean a massive reduction in funding for Catholic boarding schools, particularly in the diocese of Townsville, which are the schools that educate the greatest number of Indigenous people in Australia.

Whilst I do not assume bad faith on the part of the government, and I mentioned that in the debate—my contribution is not political, although the minister was clearly incapable of understanding that and could not help himself but pretend that we were back in the old bullyboy union days where you had to attack anyone who had a view that might be slightly different to yours; my contribution had nothing to do with that—my contribution is to try to assist the government to do what I do not think they meant to do, and that is to ensure that these Indigenous schools do not suffer with respect to funding.

On the best advice available to me, the bill before the chamber will mean a substantial reduction in funding not only to Queensland Catholic Education Commission schools but also to independent Catholic schools, independent Lutheran schools, independent Uniting Church schools and other independent schools which educate many Indigenous people from remote Australia. I said in my speech on the second reading—and Hansard will show this—that the minister responded to my request for an assurance that over the next funding period, which I assume is four years, these particular schools will not get less than they are currently getting, which is indexed to inflation. The minister, in his second reading speech, said, ‘Yes, we’ll give you those assurances.’

At the beginning of this debate in the committee stage I would like to repeat the assurance that I want. The assurance is that these institutions will not receive less funding over the next four years than they are currently receiving: the Abergowrie College in Ingham, which is part of the Catholic education system; the Columba college in Charters Towers; St Patrick’s College, which is on The Strand in Townsville—it is not part of the system and, as I understand it, is a stand-alone school run by the order of the Sisters of Mercy—who believe that if this bill goes through they will be down by over $100,000 annually; the Shalom College in Townsville, run, I think, by the Uniting Church; Mount St Bernard’s in Herberton; St Augustine’s College, in Cairns; certain Lutheran colleges in Cairns, whose names I do not have with me; independent colleges—these are boarding schools—both in Cairns and Townsville; and also the Good Shepherd hospice, which is not a boarding school, but which I am told on the current formula will receive about $40,000 less than they are currently getting.

Can I broaden it out to ask for an assurance that every boarding school in Queensland, which is my state—but perhaps I should be more broad—and every boarding school or other school in Australia dealing with Indigenous children will not receive less over the next four years than they are currently receiving. When I say less, I mean indexed for inflation. If the minister can give me that assurance, I will happily retire. I can assure the minister that many in the Catholic education system in particular—who are the people who have been speaking to me—and others who also have those concerns, will be very happy tonight.

I will only ask one other question, if you can give me that assurance, which you indicated earlier in the debate that you would be giving me. I ask you—or the officials, through you—to indicate how, under this particular bill, you get to be able to give that assurance. I want you to give the assurance. I will be very happy if you can give it, but I would like a little bit of explanation about how you get there through the bill. The bill does seem to me to be written in the way that the Catholic schools think it might be.