Penny Wright (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on something that is very close to my heart, something which, more importantly, is of vital significance to Australia's future: to our prosperity, our social cohesion and our environmental sustainability. In fact, it is something that is vital to our entire wellbeing as a nation. I am talking tonight about education.

I am a product of Australia's public education system and I will always be proud of and grateful for the good education I received at the hands of dedicated teachers in the 1960s and 1970s. Thanks to their good work I had a chance to delight in learning and to achieve my best. They encouraged me, piqued my curiosity, taught me to question and debate, and introduced me to the joy of ideas. My education grew me and equipped me to participate in life and make a contribution.

I fundamentally believe that every child should have the chance to experience the same educational opportunities that I had, no matter who they are or where they live. It is the right of all children to have the opportunity to access high-quality and affordable education, and for parents to be able to expect as much. In this, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, this is a right which is unquestionable. The public system is the only guarantee of this basic right because it is only when we have a quality school accessible to every child in every neighbourhood, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances, that we will have a real choice in Australia.

Universal, quality public education is crucial for a fair and thriving society. We are living at a time when the gap between rich and poor in Australia is becoming wider, and we know that people's destinies are often now determined by where they live—by their postcode. And so it is that quality education has never been so important as now. It can be a lifeline to allow all kids to have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and become the best they can be. Universal, quality public education can also be a unifying force for a community because it fosters social connection and understanding by bringing together children who may otherwise always move in different orbits. The Gonski review of schools funding has now shone a bright spotlight on the Australian education system and has found a regime that is seriously in need of reform.

Australia has had a proud record on education and for many years we were up there with the best. But, over the last decade in particular, our performance has seriously slipped. Student levels of achievement at both the top and bottom end have declined. In 2000, according to an assessment by PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment, only one country outperformed Australia in reading and scientific literacy and only two in mathematical literacy. By 2009, six countries outperformed us in reading and scientific literacy and 12 in mathematical literacy. Even more alarming is the evidence of entrenched inequality and disadvantage in our system, which is becoming increasingly obvious in our public schools.

Australian public schools and their committed teachers are doing their best to deliver a good education to their students and there are many stand-out schools with wonderful records; but the stark reality is they are doing so in increasingly strained circumstances and we must acknowledge this. The Gonski review has found that there is an increasing performance gap between our top-performing and bottom-performing students which is far greater than that of many of our peers in other OECD countries. It is not just explicable by ability—and that is the tragedy.

According to Dr Ken Boston, a Gonski panel member, there is a staggering—and I say shameful—difference of five-and-a-half years of schooling between the top and bottom 20 per cent of students in Australia by the time they reach year 9. The evidence is that this is not about inherent ability but about opportunity. How can we live with that situation in Australia? It is linked to children's backgrounds and circumstances. There is an unacceptable and unfair link between low levels of achievement and educational disadvantage in Australia—far greater than that of many of our peers in other OECD countries. The playing field is seriously skewed and the Gonski report has made far-reaching recommendations to fix this. The reality is that our public schools educate the lion's share of students with higher needs. We cannot continue with a system where the differences in educational outcomes are determined by differences in socioeconomic, geographic or other social determinants.

We can fix this. Two-thirds of Australia's students attend government schools—two-thirds—including 80 per cent of students with a disability or special needs, 85 per cent of Indigenous students and 77 per cent of children from low-income families. So we must ensure that these schools are adequately resourced, valued and funded to provide the education these children need. As the Gonski review stated—and it is hard to argue with this—one of the key goals of our education system should be for Australia to aspire to have a school system that is among the best in the world for its quality and equity. Why do we deserve any less? We must prioritise support for our lowest performing students.

Every child should have access to the best possible education regardless of where they live, the income of their family or the school they attend. However, this possibility has been hampered for some time by the continuing underinvestment in Australia's public education system, which has put serious strain on our schools and their teachers and students. There is no doubt that Australia is currently underfunding education. We can judge a society's values by what it is prepared to pay for. Australia is currently ranked 24 out of 30 on the OECD scale of public investment in schools. At one of the richest times in our history, in the middle of a mining boom, our governments spend three per cent of our GDP on schools. This is below the OECD average of 3.5 per cent and far behind the gold standard of nations like Iceland, Norway and Denmark, and their school performances reflect this reality. It has been estimated that to reach the OECD average, it would take $7 billion of additional investment. If we as a society truly value education, there is no way around it: we must properly fund and resource our public education system. And here we are on the brink of being able to make things right.

The Gonski review presents the first opportunity in more than three decades to fundamentally reform the way we approach education in this country in the interests of all students, whatever their background or financial circumstances. Gonski offers equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes, because we know that children of different abilities will be able to achieve different things, but we also know that the current results do not reflect inherent abilities but reflect socioeconomic disadvantage and other factors like disability, the language spoken at home, whether children are from an Indigenous background and how far they live from a capital city.

The Gonski review provides a plan that links school funding to need and recommends an investment of $5 billion per year to secure that. We can judge a society's values by what it is prepared to pay for and we must make a decision that we value education for all our citizens. The Gonski principles are about creating a fairer and more equitable education system. They are about giving every child the opportunity to access a quality education and reach their full potential. It is time to get on with Gonski! It is time to properly fund and value our public schools in Australia so they can do the job we need them to do, to the benefit of all of us.

The Australian Greens are ready to work with the government to legislate and implement the Gonski principles this year. At a minimum, we need an additional $5 billion invested in our education system and we want to see a fair school funding system based on need. We want to see full implementation of the Gonski principles around the school funding reform through legislation. This legislation should be introduced by the end of the year.

The Australian public know what we need. There is strong public support for Gonski. An Essential Media poll showed that the great majority of Australians support the Gonski reforms and more funding for public schools. The Australian Greens care about people and we care about fairness. We want a nation and a society that we are proud to pass on to our children and our grandchildren. One fundamental aspect of this future is a top quality, fair, well-funded public education system. As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we can choose to value this legacy. There must be no more delay. We must get on with Gonski.