Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

As deputy chair of the Education and Employment References Committee inquiry into Access to real learning: the impact of policy, funding and culture on students with disability, I will say that it was an inquiry that the committee undertook with diligence. We travelled right around the country; we heard from parents, we heard from students and we heard from educators themselves. We heard from unions and we heard—I think, most compellingly—from those students themselves who have a disability. They came before the committee and told us of their experience—their very real, lived experience—of the education systems right across jurisdictions in our country. I am disappointed to say that it is not great out there. It is not great out there: there are very mixed experiences for our students and their parents are doing it tough.

Some parents are shifting neighbourhoods so that their child can access a quality education system. We heard that time and time again. We heard of principals who were not enforcing the disability standards in their schools. We heard of mixed responses. But we did hear of some fantastic examples of schools, of principals, of teachers and of parents creating a really positive environment for students with a disability in their area. That was good to hear, but there is much work to do in this area. The sad evidence presented at hearings brought home that students with disabilities and their families are faced with ongoing challenges that, if unchecked by substantive action, will contribute not only to learning deficits and financial hardships but also to poor future employment prospects.

There are matters of inclusion right across the board. Families need to be made aware of their rights to access education for their children with disabilities, particularly when various state and territory jurisdictions around Australia ignore the disability standards and have less-than-inclusive attitudes and practices in their schools. We heard time and time again that it was absolutely the fabulous teachers and inclusive leadership from the school principals and community members that led to really positive outcomes in classrooms. Too often the evidence that we heard was that students with a disability were being cared for, not educated, by the schools. Whether or not your child has a disability, there should be an educative process that they can go through in our schools—in our mainstream schools predominantly. The number of stories of parents being turned away from schools with their students with disabilities being told to go to special schools when the parents and, in many cases, the students absolutely wanted that inclusive, mainstream educative experience was very sad.

I think it is important to note for the record that, contrary to what recommendations 1 and 2 in the report suggest, the Commonwealth government has already committed to needs based support for students with a disability and to record funding. We heard concerning evidence that the needs of students with a disability need to be addressed with care and compassion, not political rhetoric, so it was very disappointing that we had to provide additional comments to the report simply to state the facts in this area. Nobody could actually argue with the evidence before the committee. No senator who actually heard the evidence would want to walk away from our responsibility as a Commonwealth government. But let's be very clear: the responsibility for education lies primarily with state governments, and it is their role to ensure that all children with a disability in their jurisdiction, irrespective of whether they are attending a state school, Catholic school or other type of independent school, have access to an educative process and actually get a great education, which is their right in this country.

The report also pointed out that funding for students has often been uncertain and that families could not plan ahead properly. Certainty of funding is highly important to enable long-term improvements in schools and overcome barriers such as trouble enrolling or, as we heard, the practices of gatekeeping, lack of reasonable adjustments and exclusion from activities. A lack of support in rural and remote areas compounded the problems for those students and their families. Never before have students with a disability received so much funding. This report confirms how important this increase is when, unfortunately, our students with disabilities are being left behind and their potential is still not being realised in the midst of negative educational experiences.

Coalition senators, through the writing of our additional comments, would also like to put on the record for that for the 2014-17 period the Commonwealth is contributing more than $5 billion, with funding rising by $100 million this year alone. The students with a disability loading was introduced by this government and is exactly the same loading formula as applied by the previous Labor government in accordance with the Gillard inspired Australian Education Act 2013. I think it is very important to put that on the record. I would also like to remind the Senate that the Commonwealth, whilst the provider of one-third of the current funding for schools, is not the primary funder of schools in Australia. As I have said previously, that responsibility lies wholly and solely with state ministers of education.

We heard through this inquiry that some states were definitely better than others in fulfilling their responsibilities to students with disabilities in their jurisdictions: including and supporting students and aiding teachers in tailoring their teaching. Unfortunately, others blatantly disregarded disability standards and there seemed to be a lack of understanding in certain areas of those responsibilities. Those governments must urgently address these deficiencies in their own education systems lest claims of discrimination be faced.

From 2016 Commonwealth funding will be informed by the nationally consistent collection of data on school students with disability—a first. Australia has never had such a database to work from, and it will be a highly valuable tool to monitor a cohort of young people whose educational needs have previously been neglected by many institutions. A far more generous landscape now exists after the increase in education support for students with a disability. While not all the educational benefits will be visible immediately, the day in, day out, grassroots support of their education will form the building blocks of the potential that we want our students with a disability to unlock.

I absolutely support the efforts of parents of children with disabilities. Their passion and advocacy for their students was unfailing. It did not matter which state we were in; there were parents and, indeed, students with a disability being very loud in their advocacy for the children's right to a quality education.

One of the issues that I found most concerning was that many young teachers who are training are not given any training in the pedagogical principles underlying how to actually educate a child with, maybe, autism or hearing problems. There was no training available in any consistent or coherent way across universities that are preparing oftentimes young people to enter classrooms where there are upwards of 20 per cent of students with special needs. I think that is appalling. I think it is absolutely fantastic that our report highlights that as an issue. I hope deans of education across this country will actually take into account the evidence provided through this report in their responsibility to ensure that the teachers of tomorrow are able to address the education needs of students with a disability in our country.

Australia expects that all Australian children receive similar opportunities for a quality education regardless of location, disability or socioeconomic background. Education is power, education is enlightenment and, as Sam Seaborn said, 'It is the silver bullet.' I absolutely believe that it breaks down barriers for our students with disabilities. It will give them the tools not only to enjoy life but also to essentially be able to participate fully in all that our great nation can provide including work and allow them to contribute in a wider way to society.

I commend the government for its ground-breaking work for students with a disability. I commend the report and the recommendations that are made in the report. I hope that the teachers that support our students with disabilities and their parents will be recognised for their advocacy and that we will be able to support them with a needs based funding model that will adequately reflect the cost of delivering quality education to them.