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

I will try my best to answer your question. Clearly, there are philosophical differences in the approach that you are taking compared to that of the government. I say that without rancour. Clearly, the Greens are taking a different position to the government. We are clearly saying that there are quite specific requirements in the new education agreement for states to demonstrate improvements in Indigenous education. The Prime Minister has acknowledged that the Closing the Gap targets are tough. If we are to have our best shot at meeting these targets, there will need to be a fundamental shift in the view that one size fits all within our education system. We will need to ensure that the individual needs of students are properly catered for.

The per enrolment allocation mechanism under the National Education Agreement is intended to provide an average cost across all students. Jurisdictions will be expected to utilise the funding strategically by focusing support on those students that need that assistance the most. It is the fundamental principle of a needs-based approach. All the states and territories have agreed that halving the gap in educational outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is a key priority under the National Education Agreement. As such, it is expected that states and territories will utilise specific purpose payments funding, GST revenue—not just education funding through these schools bills but also GST revenue—and their own sources of revenue to prioritise appropriate support for Indigenous students in order to achieve these targets. You are actually seeing an improvement in the level of support; we have seen some 29 per cent improvement in the levels of funding across the whole school system—specifically, in closing the gaps in education requirements, literacy and numeracy results, low socioeconomic status provisions and teacher quality provisions.

In my judgement, the Commonwealth, under this government, is moving to establish a new era of educational funding much more closely aligned to the achievement of student results. That is why I made the point earlier. People talk about the rights of parents. This is about defending the rights of parents to actually know what is going on at their local school. All of us who have children know what a frustration it can be to actually understand what is happening at the local school with our kids. I am sure my experience has been repeated right across the country. We are trying to provide basic information for people to make choices about what is going on at their local school. If that principle applies to the public education system, why shouldn’t it apply to the private education system? What is the fundamental philosophical difference that says that parents with kids at private schools are not entitled to the same information as parents who have kids at public schools? That is the principle. If you are an Indigenous parent, you, above all else, are entitled to know that the public funding that is going to support your children is actually being spent properly. You have the right to expect that that level of support will be well used. That is what we are trying to do. We are trying to provide the resources to allow for a real improvement in the quality of opportunity for children in our schools.