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

I rise to speak to the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024. Public education in Australia is significantly underfunded, and this is exacerbating existing disparities in educational outcomes, and it's hindering the potential of millions of students. The funding shortfall is both a matter of resource allocation and a set of broader systemic ideological choices made by both the coalition and the Labor governments about the role of the state in supporting public education.

In a country with significant fiscal and state capacity such as Australia, the underfunding and abandonment of high-quality and free public schools is a choice. This choice is not forced on governments, but it is wilfully made, and it has both short- and long-term negative consequences for our young people and the nation. And so we ask: what is the point of government, if not to provide a world-class public education system for our children and young people? It is so bitterly disappointing that we have a government that refuses to prioritise public schools.

Australia's public schools have been chronically underfunded for decades. Despite the Gonski review recommendations, funding for public schools has consistently fallen short of the necessary levels required to ensure equitable education outcomes for every single child. The Gonski review, released way back in 2011, called for a new funding model that would better address the needs of educationally disadvantaged students and provide a more equitable distribution of school funding across the nation, and yet, a decade after that review, successive governments have failed to fully implement that model. The system as it's currently designed shovels money out the door and into private schools while neglecting public schools. Nobody ever said that 80 per cent of federal government money had to go to private schools, and yet here we are.

I want to be very clear. The policies of this government and previous governments have led to a two-tiered school system. The goals of educational equity and excellence are slipping further out of reach because governments are not investing in public education to the degree that is necessary.

Under the current system and legislation, state and territory governments provide most of the public funding for government schools and the minority of public funding for non-government schools, and it's the reverse for private schools. This system, based on the schooling resource standard, was supposed to ensure that each student attracts the level of funding needed for a good education, with loading for additional need. And the SRS is not an aspirational standard. It's based on the bare minimum level of funding that a school requires to get 80 per cent of students to the minimum standard. We're not even talking about that other 20 per cent. So we have a system where almost no public schools are at 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard and where most private schools are at or above 100 per cent. Where I worked in Gladstone, the public high school got less government money per student than the Catholic school up the road. That is a system that is fundamentally broken.

While the federal government's focus is on funding private schools, states are also allowed to engage in dodgy accounting tricks that include non-educational spending in their share of public school funding, and I note that this dodgy accounting is only allowed with regard to public schools, not private ones. So the public school system is getting dudded again. Due to allowable inclusions in the way states and territories can account for their contribution towards their share of the SRS, public schools will again be left underfunded, despite the new deal signed with WA, Tasmania and the NT. Minister Clare's statement that WA public schools will be fully funded has been labelled as misleading by independent fact checkers.

The underfunding of public schools has a direct and harmful impact on educational outcomes. The evidence is clear that increased funding has a positive effect on educational attainment, particularly for educationally disadvantaged students, the majority of whom are in our public schools. Research consistently shows that additional investment in schools, especially in low-income and educationally disadvantaged areas, leads to improved academic performance, enhanced student wellbeing and more effective teaching and learning. However, in many parts of Australia, public schools are operating with outdated or inadequate facilities, underresourced classrooms and insufficient support for students with highly complex needs. As a result, the students in these schools are at a significant disadvantage when compared to their peers in wealthier private schools.

The underfunding of public schools also has a significant impact on teachers and school staff. Teachers in underfunded schools are often required to work with larger class sizes, outdated resources and insufficient support staff. This not only makes their jobs more difficult, but it also contributes to higher levels of workload intensification, stress, burnout and job dissatisfaction. It is no surprise that teachers are continuing to flee the public education system. Teachers are the backbone of the education system, and their ability to deliver quality education is heavily reliant on the resources that are available to them. Without adequate funding, teachers are forced to spend their own money on classroom materials. For public school teachers, they currently average around $1,000 a year out of their own pocket. They have to take on additional duties beyond their role, and they face an increasingly complex and challenging work environment. This has a detrimental effect on teacher retention, especially in locations with higher need, where the failure of adequate resourcing makes it harder to attract and retain educators.

Underfunding also disproportionately affect students experiencing educational disadvantage, including those from low-income families, First Nations students, those from rural and remote areas and students with disabilities. These students require additional support in terms of financial resources and targeted interventions to overcome the barriers they face in accessing a quality education. However, under the current funding model, these students are often left behind. They're often in the 20 per cent that we're not even accounting for in our funding. Public schools often lack specialised staff such as social workers, mental health professionals and speech therapists who can provide essential supports to students. As a result, public school students may struggle to achieve their full potential, with long-term consequences for their social mobility and life outcomes.

The Greens firmly believe that all students, regardless of their background, should have access to a high-quality education and the support that they need to succeed. This is a rare opportunity to end decades of underfunding and to save public education in this country. Let me be clear. As was pointed out by Senator O'Sullivan, parents are fleeing the public education system. This is what the Greens stand for: world-class, free public education, accessible for every child. We have a fundamental and deeply held belief in the value of public education. It's transformative. The Commonwealth government must raise its offer to fund public schools from a conditional 22.5 per cent of the schooling resource standard to a minimum of 25 per cent because anything less will lock in another decade of underresourcing of our public school system and will condemn another generation of children and young people to a substandard public education. Public education is the fundamental building block of Australian society. If Labor can't fund that properly, what are they doing here?

The government must make a choice. Will it further entrench a two-tier system where public schools which educate the vast majority of educationally disadvantaged students are forced to struggle by on inadequate funding, or will it invest in our children and young people and properly invest in and fund our public schools? Analysis from the Australian Education Union shows that more than half of all Australian private schools receive more government funding per student than comparable public schools. Every single school parent can see that this is a deeply broken, inequitable and damaging system. We have one of the widest inequality gaps in the OECD, and no-one funds their education system like we do. We're an outlier.

Among the government's proposed changes is a proposal to change the Commonwealth share of public school funding from a default cap of 20 per cent to a floor of 20 per cent, including a ratchet mechanism. The Greens are supportive of a positive ratchet on the share of Commonwealth funding for government schools, but the legislated 20 per cent default is a coalition relic. It is astounding that this bill does not guarantee more funding for public schools; it is reheated coalition policy. What the Greens are proposing is simply common sense: ensure that all public schools are fully funded to 100 per cent of the SRS. That starts by lifting the Commonwealth share to a minimum of 25 per cent. It is widely acknowledged that this is what is needed. Given the federal government's significantly greater fiscal capacity, it's a drop in the ocean when compared to other government expenditure. A drop in the ocean to give our kids the best possible shot in life is a price worth paying.

Should the government not be willing to lock in a 25 per cent minimum contribution, at the very least they should establish a floor contribution of 22½ per cent, which is their own policy and is exactly what they are offering to the states. By locking in a 22.5 per cent floor, the government can guarantee at least some rise to the level of public school funding and futureproof it right now against the coalition. For too long, public schools and public-school students have fallen through the cracks, with neither the states nor the federal government interested in delivering 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard.

The Greens will be supporting this bill in order to provide some certainty in case the coalition are elected. While we do not see this bill as even remotely adequate, we are supportive of the ratchet mechanism and the mild increase to public school funding. We have an absurd situation where the federal government, with vastly more revenue than the states and territories, is chiefly responsible for subsidising the overfunded private sector while public schools, who serve the majority of educationally disadvantaged kids in our communities, remain fundamentally less well off. All kids deserve a fully funded public school education. It's what every society should strive for, and in a rich country like ours it should be a given. The community expects the government to ensure every child has access to high-quality, free education, and that is what the Greens will continue to push for.