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

by leave—I move amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3036 together:

(1) Schedule 1, item 3, page 4 (line 11), omit "20 per cent", substitute "25 per cent".

(2) Schedule 1, item 7, page 5 (line 19), omit "20%", substitute "25%".

The amendments on sheet 3036 seek to amend section 35A of the Australian Education Act 2013 to raise the share of the Commonwealth's contribution to public schools to 25 per cent. It has been over a decade since the Gonski review said that we needed a truly needs-based funding system for our schools.

Since that time, we've had underfunding, with 98 per cent of public schools now underfunded. More than half of private schools are funded at a higher level than our public schools, with government money. Will the government—for the young people of this country and for the teachers who work every day in their schools—commit to finally getting those schools to 100 per cent of the SRS by lifting the Commonwealth contribution to 25 per cent? I commend this amendment to the Senate.