Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Having not had the opportunity to make a couple of comments at the closing stages of the second reading debate, I do want to reflect upon the vote that was just taken. I am very pleased that the Senate has voted to bring this important bill into the committee stage, because that is a demonstration that this parliament is working and is committed to delivering the type of consistent, fair and needs based funding that Australian schools deserve. It is a demonstration that the members of this Senate have heard the arguments over the last few weeks and months, which have been clear-cut in terms of what the model is and what David Gonski himself and Gonski panellists like Kathryn Greiner and Ken Boston have advocated, and many other independent experts have argued for—and that is, that we are delivering a fairer model of needs based funding that is more consistent than the one the Labor Party put in place previously and which will strip away the 27 different special deals and disparate agreements that the Labor Party had in place.

What we are putting in place now delivers increased support to Australian schools—$18.6 billion of additional funding that the Turnbull government committed this year—which will be distributed fairly and according to need, and will be used to drive real reform across the Australian education landscape and drive the types of reform that will ensure that schools, whether they are government schools, Catholic systemic schools or independent schools, receive the funding relevant to need for their individual circumstances. That, of course, is exactly what the Gonski report has been on about for a long period of time. Six years ago we saw the Gonski report handed down, which, at that time, demonstrated that there was an argument for putting in place a more consistent model of needs based funding around Australia. The Gonski report recommended that there should be a base level of funding for all Australian students, a schooling resource standard, that should, in the case of non-government education, be discounted according to the capacity of that school community to contribute. It recommended that there should be loadings for additional support for students with disability, for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, for Indigenous students, for students from language backgrounds other than English and indeed for smaller rural, regional and remote schools. All of those factors are reflected in the bill the Turnbull government has before us and in the model we are seeking to implement.

But the Gillard government, as it was then, rather than going forward and deciding that they would truly work to adopt the Gonski model, decided that they could not possibly apply fewer models or a consistent funding model for Australian schools. Instead, as has been noted by Gonski panellist himself Ken Boston, what we saw was Mr Shorten, as the then education minister, and prime ministers Gillard and Rudd running around the country, stitching up different deals in what was described as 'a corruption' of the Gonski model. The Turnbull government has come to the rescue of the Gonski model of needs based funding. The Turnbull government is implementing what was envisioned would be the case, and we are doing so regardless of state boundaries and sectoral differences in education. We are putting in place a funding model that ensures that that schooling resource standard with its base funding and additional loadings is applied consistently right across the country.

We know from evidence that individual schools at present can receive thousands of dollars less in one state relative to another state, even if they have exactly the same levels of need within their school systems. That, of course, is a completely unfair and unacceptable circumstance. Why should a school student in Western Australia be treated at a disadvantage to a school student in New South Wales by the national government—the Australian government—just because they happen to be in a different state or territory? Why should a student in the Catholic education system in Tasmania be treated at a disadvantage to a student in the Catholic education system in Victoria just because they are in a different state or territory? What we want to ensure is that all are treated according to the need of their individual school and their individual circumstances and based on a consistent approach and methodology by the Commonwealth government.

What we have proposed to the Senate is a 10-year transition period for this. I anticipate, as we move through the debate, that there may be some variations to that and that those variations, if implemented, could see even greater benefits for school systems of all stripes. I anticipate that the types of amendments that have been mooted in the discussions with various members of the crossbench—and I thank them for their engagement—will deliver an even greater rate of funding growth in a shorter period of time to government schools across Australia. They will deliver an even greater rate of funding growth in an even shorter period of time to Catholic education systems across Australia, and they will deliver an even greater rate of funding growth in a shorter period of time to the neediest independent non-government schools in Australia.

Importantly, we are also looking at proposals that structurally would not change the long-term consequences for the budget and that structurally would still ensure that, although we will get to a consistent, fair and needs based model of funding in a shorter period of time, the long-term impact will be as the Turnbull government's proposals originally forecast. But it will provide faster support if these proposals are adopted by the Senate.

I want to reflect on the thoughtful engagement and contributions to date from the various elements of the crossbench. The Greens have been thoughtful contributors in the public debate on this issue, and I appreciate the fact that they have continued those discussions. I would welcome them continuing those discussions further to ensure that we have and will deliver needs based funding across Australia. The Australian Greens have shown the willingness that the Labor Party has lacked to actually adopt a sensible approach to these reforms.