Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Doesn't it say a lot about the coalition that, when matters of fair funding for public education are raised, they laugh. Every single one of them thinks it's a laughing matter that public education doesn't receive the funding it deserves. I know that many Australians make a choice—they prefer to have a non-government school education for their children, whether it's because of their religious beliefs or for other reasons, and we will support the rights of those parents and families to choose that. What we will also do, unlike what we saw from the coalition, is ensure that public schools have the funding they deserve to deliver the high-quality education that I have chosen for my children. I went through it with my own education, and my family members have taught in the public education system. Please don't come and give me a lecture about public education when you are in a party that can never deliver a single cent of extra funding for public education. You can sit in the corner and throw rocks at other people, but it will only be a Labor government that delivers public education funding, and that is exactly what we are on track to do.

Minister Clare has made it very clear that Commonwealth funding will continue to grow during the one-year extension of the current National School Reform Agreement. For public schools, this includes an increase from $10.6 billion in 2023 to $11.1 billion in 2024. We remain committed to working with the states and territories to get every school, public and non-state, 100 per cent of its fair funding level in the future.