Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of answers on education given by the government today. All we have heard from government senators is ridicule of Labor's very solid, fully costed plan on education. There is a reason for that. It is that those opposite have nothing to say when it comes to education. They have absolutely nothing to say. And why is that? Because they have ripped out of every single Australian school $3.2 million. That will happen over the next 10 years. That is their school plan: to reduce the funding available to schools—$3.2 million out of every single school across this country. What a disgrace. Imagine what impact the loss of that money has on the quality of resource, the quality of teaching, the exciting learning experiences that children simply will not have because those opposite, the Turnbull government, will have ripped the heart out of every single school in Australia.

I come from a state where, unfortunately, their Liberal counterpart, Colin Barnett, has also ripped the heart out of school funding. Not only will every school in Western Australia suffer this $3.2 million cut imposed by the Turnbull government; they have got cuts of their own imposed by the Colin Barnett Liberal government. Let me tell you: schools in Western Australia are in a shocking state. But of course it is not just Labor saying this. I recently chaired the inquiry into children with special needs in our education system. Again, we saw another mistruth. Christopher Pyne, when he was the opposition shadow, made promises that he would commit the sort of Gonski funding that kids with special needs in our schools need. And yet what we have seen is that government has introduced this indexation to CPI, which is failing children with special needs.

What did the very conservative Catholic Education they tell the inquiry? They told the inquiry exactly the same thing—that they cannot manage on this funding, that it is not enough for Catholic Education to provide the quality and the specialist services that children with special needs need in their schools. And they went further. They said, 'Schools will close.' Schools for special needs children that they manage will close if this drop in funding—the failure to commit to their promises—continues by the Turnbull government. We heard Catholic Education yesterday say exactly the same thing about their mainstream schools. We cannot all have a comprehension problem. You do not sit there as a Catholic Education office and attack your funder unless things are dire—and they are dire. We heard shocking experiences of children with disability in our education system. If they had the Gonski funding, things would change.

We heard from schools in New South Wales who had picked up the special funding that Labor put into schools that have children with special needs, and they told us of the great innovations that they were able to bring to bear—all of which is now gone. This is what we see again from those opposite. The Gonski review was revolutionary. Obviously those opposite have never bothered to read it. It established very clearly the growing inequity in our schools between those students who come from wealthier areas and those students who do not. There is a growing disparity. But of course that is what the Turnbull government are all about. Unless you can help yourself, they have got no interest in helping you. The Gonski panel set out very clearly what was needed. Yes, of course funding is at the core of reform, but we also need good quality teachers—something Labor will invest in in our policy. We want to see innovative schools. We want to see all children having the best opportunity, not being defined by postcode.

I have two grandchildren in high school this year. Unfortunately they do not live in the green leafy suburbs. Their schooling is difficult. Their schools need more funding, and yet I know that those opposite have taken $3.2 million away from their schools, denying them the opportunities of other children.

Question agreed to.