Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It means standing in front of a maths class with range of students with complex needs and only being able to get a teacher's aide or a support person for one lesson in three. It means being a head of department and having to tell your teachers that they can only have two pieces of photocopy paper per student per lesson. It means standing in front of your teachers and telling them they can't even photocopy in colour, notwithstanding that is more engaging for students, because the department can't afford it. It means working in classrooms that are too hot or too cold but that don't have enough paint or that have leaky ceilings.

Today in this building, our students, teachers and parents are pleading with the government to fully fund public education. Today I heard from a teacher who told me they are continually having to merge classes because they don't have enough teachers, because teachers are leaving the profession in droves because they don't have the resources, the time and the support they need to adequately provide for students in our public schools. I heard from a young student who said that their school is no longer able to offer science classes to year 7s and 8s. Public schools are having to rely on family members and teachers and other members of the community to do basic maintenance in their schools. Fairhills Primary School in Victoria has a teacher's husband who is currently going around fixing the fences and the gates because the school does not have enough money in its budget to fix them.

Right now, the Labor government, who went to a federal election promising every Australian that they would fully fund our public education system, has a deal on the table—or a take-it-or-leave-it offer on the table—that would lock in another decade of underfunding for our public schools. In the last decade, the amount of money flowing into the private education system has increased at double the rate of the increase in funding to our public schools, despite David Gonski and the Gonski review panel saying over a decade ago that we need a funding model that reduces the inequity in our education system that is needs based and sector blind. For over a decade, teachers, parents, carers, students and other members of the community have been campaigning year after year after year to get the government to fully fund public education.

The public education system is in crisis. We are seeing parents fleeing the public education system, particularly when their young person goes from primary school to secondary school, because they don't have the confidence that their public school has the resources and support that their young person is going to need. I heard a story today of a teacher who works in a public school that backs onto a private school, and students are actually starting to ask their teachers why is it that the kids on that side of the fence have fantastic ovals and beautiful facilities and they can't even get new paint on their walls? When kids are starting to ask questions about why the school that they are in is not adequately funded, I think that says everything you need to know about how dire the situation is.

This has gone on for too long. We need to fully fund our public schools, and it's time for Labor to decide if they actually believe in public education.