Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Despite their attack ads, their interruptions from the other side of the chamber and the pamphlets they drop in letterboxes that try to scare people and parents into voting for them through their social media campaigns, school funding is not just going up; it's going up by record amounts. Our guaranteed funding commitment invests an additional $37 billion in schools over the next decade to 2029. This increases the average funding per student by 62 per cent over the same period, so our record speaks for itself, and so does the record of those opposite.

For Western Australia, education and skills funding will be increased by $171 million from 2019-20 to 2020-21. Broader investment in my home state also includes $2.1 billion for quality schools, $158 million for national skills workforce development and $46.9 million for early childhood education—an area that I'm personally very passionate about. Commonwealth recurrent schools funding for WA will also increase from $2 billion in 2019 to $3.9 billion in 2029. This is equivalent to a Perth student funding increase of 71.8 per cent for government schools and 43.8 per cent for non-government schools.

But what does this record investment mean on the ground for those local schools and families in my community in Western Australia? I can break down this investment even further. This government's commitment to education will see funding for Armadale Senior High School increase from just over $2 million this financial year to $3.4 million over the next decade. Funding for Cecil Andrews College, which has a terrific STEM program, or STEAM as they call it in their school, is set to increase by around the same amount—from $2.1 million to nearly $3.6 million. And the Challis Community Primary School—another fantastic school in the south-eastern suburbs of Perth; a brilliant school with a wonderful program reaching and helping parents and students, particularly in early childhood education—are seeing their funding increase from $1.9 million to $3.3 million.

These are the practical, on-the-ground outcomes from our investment in Australian schools. In fact, Commonwealth schools funding has grown at a faster rate than state and territory government funding. From 2006-07 to 2015-16 Commonwealth funding for government schools has increased in real terms by 78.5 per cent on a per student basis. We have replaced Labor's multiple secret funding deals with a single, needs based national model of schools funding, and the results are there for all to see.

Our agreement is fair and provides certainty over the next decade. We're ensuring that our record funding commitment gets better results for Australian students, parents and teachers. We're also backing the full implementation of NAPLAN to ensure parents and teachers get transparency on student progress. We're improving teacher quality by testing trainee teachers to ensure that they are in the top 30 per cent for literacy and numeracy before they can teach in schools. We're also refocusing the Australian Curriculum on the essentials. We've also secured the agreement of every state and territory to work with us to improve results for all students.

On top of this, we're giving parents more choice by backing those who choose the school that best meets the needs of their child, including Catholic and independent schools. This is why we've created the $1.2 billion Choice and Affordability Fund. This means, in total, an extra $4.5 billion of funding will be available to non-government schools over the decade. This extra funding is not at the expense of government schools. From 2017 to 2029, Commonwealth funding for government schools will increase by 75 per cent per student and non-government schools will increase by 55 per cent per student on average.

Debate interrupted.