Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A letter has been received from Senator Tyrrell:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The failure of state governments around the country to honour their commitments and maintain a pathway for funding for public schools to reach 75 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard, all the while demanding the Federal Government pay more.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the Clerk will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by whips.

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Think about this. You're out for dinner with some mates, the wine is flowing and the food is amazing. You all agree to split the bill down the middle, but, when you go to pay, it turns out that someone didn't pay their full share of the bill. So now you're left to pick up part of their tab too. You'd be pretty miffed about that, wouldn't you? This is exactly what state and territory governments are doing on education funding. They have failed to stump up the cash to honour the agreement they made in the first place. Now they're crying poor and putting their hand out to the federal government for more money. It's like a bad Oliver Twist joke.

Ten years ago, state and territory governments agreed for public schools to be funded to 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard, or SRS. This is an estimate of how much total public funding a school needs to meet its students' educational needs, recommended in the Gonski review. The states and territories would fund 75 per cent, and the federal government would top up the 20 per cent that was left. We're 10 years down the track, and several state governments have failed to hold up their end of the bargain.

Now, to be fair, some states have reached their targets or are close—Tassie is one of them—but others are way off. So they've decided to band together to demand more cash from the federal government. They say schools are underfunded, so, naturally, the federal government must be the ones to chip in. The states say they just don't have the cash to put in anymore. But I'm sure if they looked at their coffers a little closer they'd find areas to cut back. Take the Tasmanian Liberal government. It's a bit rich that they say they don't have money for education when they've found a spare $375 million for a brand-new stadium plus the AFL training centre plus the hundreds of millions for the sewerage system. Do you catch my drift?

The Tasmanian education minister said that anything less than 100 per cent funding for Tasmania's public schools is unacceptable. But, when the state government has signed up to fund the lion's share of public education, how is it that the fault suddenly lies with the federal government? Let's not forget that every single state and territory except for Tasmania has a Labor government at the helm. So it's Labor state governments calling out federal Labor and not sticking to an agreement signed under a federal Labor government. But here's the kicker: of the money each state and territory spends on SRS funding, a percentage of it goes to non-school spending. It's claimed for capital depreciation and administrative costs. In Tasmania, this non-school spending is about four per cent of their SRS funding, so that's money that the state government says it's spending on education but that isn't being spent directly in schools.

While states continue to demand more from the federal government, this money could be going directly to schools right now and helping the kids who need it the most. I have family and friends working in public schools in Tasmania. They've told me how they're buying stationery for their classrooms out of their own pocket because there's no budget for it. Someone told me a kindergarten in Devonport is in desperate need of money to upgrade its playground. It's at the point where it's becoming dangerous for the kids to play on it—it's that bad. I don't think a single person here would say this is okay. Nobody wants our public schools to be underresourced and underfunded. Public schools are safe places for kids who don't come from a lot. My kids went to the same primary school and high school that I did. That was the same high school my mum went to. There's something special in that—that they can learn and dream in the same place that I did and even learn from some of the same teachers I did.

Kids at public schools should receive the same standard of education as kids at private schools. They deserve to have every single opportunity available to them. They shouldn't be denied that. Kids shouldn't be denied essential resources because state and federal governments are having a spat about who has to pay. For me, there's no arguing that public schools should get all the funding they deserve. I don't think it's too much to ask that the state governments chip in what they agreed to, and they should chip in that full amount without nonsense excuses about why some of the money isn't actually spent directly on schools at all. Aussie kids deserve more than to be a football kicked around the play yard at recess. They're assets for the future, and we should treat them with the respect that an asset deserves.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all, I think we should just cast our minds back to the reason why we're in this situation: the opposition's National School Reform Agreement, in which government schools will never get the schooling resource standard that they require. Of course, when you look at the fact that it is 10 years since the Liberal Party ripped more than $20 billion out of our public schools in this country, it stands as an absolute disgrace of those opposite. The coalition left public schools without a pathway to 100 per cent of the SRS.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ridiculous.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite say it's ridiculous; $20 billion is not ridiculous to those families that lost the opportunity to have their kids properly educated. The most disadvantaged areas were the ones left hanging the most by those opposite. But Middle Australians were also disadvantaged because that $20 billion came out of their pockets and they lost opportunities for hardworking students across our school systems and our country. When those opposite took those billions of dollars out of schooling, what were the consequences? We saw high school completion rates decline over those 10 years. Attendance rates declined over those 10 years. We saw teacher shortages grow over those 10 years, and, of course, the gap between the rich and the poor got even bigger. Middle Australia and those already disadvantaged were the ones disadvantaged by those opposite.

The proposal that's been put forward, the arrangements that have been suggested and the discussions that have taken place across the country are to make sure that we get to 100 per cent of a fair system for everybody. The Commonwealth has offered to contribute additional school resource standard funding, but it's not a blank cheque. The Commonwealth will contribute, and the states should contribute too. We know that. That's a practical thing. That's how state and national negotiations take place, to make sure there is fully funded reform.

Great strides have been made in the endeavour to reach agreements. Western Australia, to its credit, has reached an in-principle agreement and developed a series of standards which have been agreed to by the Commonwealth. It can be done, and it is being done. It's incredibly important that we get this right across the Australian continent.

After $20 billion being taken out, it will take some time to get this back on track, but it will also take an absolute commitment to not rip money out, to not disadvantage kids, to not widen the gap between the rich and poor, to not allow a lower completion rate of high school and to not see the rate of attendance decline. We need to make sure we have meaningful education in this country which can be shared by all Australians, regardless of their financial circumstances and regardless of the personal situation they find themselves in. Part of that endeavour has been to look at the practical challenges in the Northern Territory. The government unveiled a $1 billion package to fully fund public schools by 2029 in the Northern Territory. Of course, that is critically important because it recognises the disproportionate disadvantages which there are in the Northern Territory. That deal doubled the federal government's investment.

That's not what those opposite did. They left the Northern Territory hanging, just as they left Western Australia hanging and the rest of the country hanging. When it comes to reality, not just politics, the reality is that, through 10 years of their mismanagement of education, we saw decline after decline after decline. Whatever they have to say now will just be crocodile tears. The reality is, when they had the ability to make a difference, they did nothing.

When we've been in this situation in these negotiations, we've made some very important steps forward and we will continue to make strides forward to get agreement between all territories and all states. Currently, as many would know, no public school outside the ACT is at the full and fair funding level. I say again: the Albanese government remains committed to working with states and territories to get every school to 100 per cent of its fair funding level in the next National School Reform Agreement, which is being negotiated this year.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank Senator Tyrrell for bringing on this very important matter. I want to start by saying that it is very clear that Senator Sheldon does not understand anything about school funding, because he has just profoundly misled the Senate. The fact of the matter is that, under the Gonski school funding model, the Commonwealth is meeting its share of public school funding, which is 20 per cent of the schooling resource standard. Senator Tyrrell is quite right, as she spells out in this motion, that the shortfall is the responsibility of the states. In fact, only the ACT is meeting 80 per cent, the full share—20 plus 80, of course, is 100 per cent—of the SRS.

I am just going to go through the table of contributions to demonstrate where the shortfall is. New South Wales is at 72.2 per cent. Victoria is at 70.43 per cent. Queensland is at 69.26 per cent. South Australia is at 75 per cent. WA is at 75 per cent. Tasmania is at almost 75 per cent, at 74.08 per cent. The Northern Territory is at a very dismal 59 per cent. So the failure is occurring at the state level. I want to place on record the ridiculous and pathetic misrepresentation of Senator Sheldon in relation to Commonwealth funding under the former coalition government. The fact is that, under the former coalition government, school funding nearly doubled, from $13 billion to $25.3 billion. The shortfall in funding for public schools, which absolutely deserve full funding, is courtesy of the states.

But what is extraordinary about this school funding war which Labor has now created is that it's misled Australians. Labor went to the election promising full and fair funding. While the states are delivering a serious shortfall in relation to what they should be contributing to public schools under the Gonski funding model, the fact of the matter is that Labor misled Australians and, I think it is fair to say, misled the states. When it talked about 'full and fair funding', the states took that to mean that the Commonwealth contribution to public schools was going to increase from 20 per cent to 25 per cent. So now, with the exception of WA and the Northern Territory, which have reached in-principle deals with the federal government, we have a full-scale funding war courtesy of this incompetent Labor education minister, who is offering only 2.5 per cent more. The states are saying, 'No deal.' Even worse than that, the National School Reform Agreement has been delayed for more than a year because this incompetent minister cannot deliver the reforms that Australian students and parents deserve.

We know that we have a dire situation in this country, with one in three children failing NAPLAN. Despite what Senator Sheldon has said, after the last couple of years under Labor, we now have a full-blown teacher shortage crisis, attendance levels have got worse, our international PISA results are stagnating but showing long-term decline and the average year 10 student is a full year behind in their learning compared to 20 years ago. So it is a dire situation. This incompetent government has not bothered to deliver the reforms that we know will lift school standards and allow each and every child to reach his or her best potential.

So I say: shame on this government. Stop misleading the parliament. Don't mislead the Australian people. Get on with the job. Resolve the school funding war that you have created. Frankly, what we have seen from this government is an absolute shambles—declining school standards, a school funding war, no action on indoctrination in schools, the shocking attack on non-government schools, including the potential loss of DGR status for school library funds and scholarship funds, the teacher shortage crisis, the failure to do anything on classroom disruption, which is also driving very poor results, and the failure of this government to stand up to antisemitism and all of the activity in schools— (Time expired)

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

Is it any wonder that we find ourselves in the mess that we're in? From both Labor and the coalition we've just heard all the excuses as to why our schools aren't fully funded. We've been talking about this for over a decade, and this has meant that we've stopped talking about what it actually is that means we can do good things in our schools. We've been talking about money for 12 years, and where do we find ourselves? We find ourselves with teachers leaving en masse; classrooms in disrepair; more and more kids unable to go to school, with 40 per cent of kids having experienced some sort of 'school can't' in the last 12 months; and completion rates falling. And this has happened under both the government's and the coalition's watch.

Senator Sheldon said to cast your mind back. Well, let's cast our minds back to when the Gonski report was handed down. That review said we need sector-blind, needs based funding. And the first words that came out of the education minister's mouth were, 'Julia Gillard said no private school will be worse off,' effectively undoing Gonski from the get-go.

Senator Henderson says that the Commonwealth is meeting its share. Why do we keep insisting on trying to convince the Australian public that there is some immutable law that the 20-80 split in both directions is something that can't be changed? It's an arbitrary number that John Howard came up with which enabled the federal government, the arm of government that has the most cash, to fund the sector with the least number of students in it and with the least amount of need, while the states are left to fund the public schools, which have the majority of students and around 80 to 85 per cent of kids with the highest need. It's a magic number. They pulled it out of the air. And it's not even a cap. Go and ask the drafters in the Table Office. It's an arbitrary default number; if they can't agree, it defaults to that. Year upon year we've had both Labor and coalition ministers telling us that we've got this issue of a cap, when the cap is not even real.

I'll tell you what's real. We have an education system in this country that has bought into the global education reform movement. Pasi Sahlberg calls it the germ, and it is a germ. We are focused on data and numbers, and we've forgotten about what school is about. It's about young people. How many of you have gone out lately and asked a young person what they think about school? A report in the UK a couple of years ago said that most young people, particularly those in high school, said that it's something they had to endure.

People in this chamber laugh. Well, you keep laughing. I've been a teacher for 30 years and I have never seen the public education system like it is now. We are on the edge of having a system that crumbles under the weight of successive governments' inaction.

And, yes, the extra funding that has been given to the NT is welcome, and the agreement that WA has made is welcome. But the minister still refuses to rule out getting rid of Morrison's loophole. You want to bang on and accuse a coalition of underfunding schools, but why are you hanging onto a loophole that he instigated?

Yes, I'm angry! I've worked in a system that successive governments have not funded properly. Senator Tyrrell is right: teachers and parents and kids are sick of you arguing. Time is running out. Stop arguing over arbitrary numbers, get the deals done and fund our schools. (Time expired)

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Tyrrell. I know that you are a keen advocate for public schools in Tasmania, and I'm grateful for your perspectives on this. The debate rages. The coalition did indeed leave government in 2022, having failed miserably to ensure that public schools had the pathway to 100 per cent of the SRS. In fact, over those 10 years under the coalition government, school attendance rates declined, high school completion declined, teacher shortages raged out of control and the gap between those who have and those who have not just continued to widen and widen. These are all points of fact, not points of opinion.

Today we've seen other stats here: 86,000 students have failed to meet either the basic literacy standard or the basic numeracy standard. That is something we should all be ashamed of for our education system. Today, on top of all that—and we've heard some of the senators in this debate so far reference it—is the anniversary of a shameful act in the budget in 2014. When those opposite were in government, they disgracefully ripped more than $20 billion out of the public school system in this country.

Labor is committed to building the skills and qualifications of the children in this country. We believe that every child should have full access to a world-class education system regardless of their family's wealth and regardless of the suburb that they live in. Right now, no public school outside of the ACT is at the full and fair funding level. But we have committed to ensuring that Australia's education system is both better and fairer and that each school will get to 100 per cent of the SRS. Every student should have the opportunity to reach their full potential, and that requires a focus on catching up, keeping up and finishing school. That is the basic premise of what we are doing. The Labor government will contribute to achieving full and fair funding for each school, and that has been proven already by the statements of intent that have been signed by Minister Clare with WA and the Northern Territory.

We call on the states to contribute here also. As has been mentioned, the states aren't all coming to the party here. This is a shared-resource model. It's not a blank cheque from the federal government. Where we have states coming to the party who are negotiating in good faith for an outcome for the improvement of education of our students and the achievement of 100 per cent SRS, then we're here, we're willing and we're waiting. Let's get this done. Minister Clare is a serious champion of full and fair funding, and he has invested an awful lot of time and effort in negotiating with all of the states. As I've said, he's managed to sign off on statements of intent with WA and the Northern Territory and will continue on the pathway to full funding for each and every state and territory.

Minister Clare is also working on tying that funding to improved outcomes, not just with a blank cheque, as I've said, or by saying, 'We'll just pay for everything.' It's to ensure that children in our country have every opportunity to catch up and to have the supports that they need to help them fulfil their potential. We're looking forward to seeing every single state step up and stump up. We have to close this funding gap. We have to invest in the reforms necessary to lift student outcomes, and 10 years of neglect doesn't get fixed overnight. It doesn't.

I appreciate your earlier comments, Senator Allman-Payne, referencing 12 years of neglect. For two of those years, Labor has worked hard to negotiate these outcomes to come up with a better way to get our schools back on track and to ensure our students can take advantage of the bright future that Australia has. We have vast opportunities in this country. Whether students are coming directly out of school into the workforce or going via TAFE, via apprenticeships and traineeships or via university, there are bright opportunities ahead of us, and we have to get this agreement done. (Time expired)

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The schooling resource standard, or SRS, estimates the amount of public funding that schools need to meet their students' educational needs. As of 2024, the Commonwealth is responsible for providing 20 per cent of public schools funding and, in line with this arrangement, states are required to take on 75 per cent, leaving a five per cent gap. The Commonwealth wears extra loadings for medium and small schools, which is estimated to cost the federal government $600 million in 2024 alone, as well as other student based loadings.

This scheme was agreed upon between the federal, state and territory governments under the National School Reform Agreement. Australia is a federation of states, and education is a state responsibility. Not only are the states failing to meet their 75 per cent target; they're demanding that the federal government tip in more money for an additional five per cent. It is hypocrisy for the Victorian education minister, Ben Carroll, to suggest that the federal government should cut its funding to non-government schools to make up for it. The Commonwealth is already paying its fair share and meeting its target as outlined in the schooling resource standard, and the states are not paying their fair share—their agreed share. The states have even declined the offer of the federal government taking on an additional 2.5 per cent to help in closing the gap. They are asking for the full five per cent. How can the states ask for anything when they're not even meeting their own target?

It's worth noting that, in Australia, states and territories are responsible for the majority of public school funding, to which in 2024 alone the Commonwealth government is contributing $11.2 billion. Contrary to union bosses' claims, the federal government over the past decade has taken on a greater share of the responsibility of funding schools. In fact, in 2013-14, states were responsible for 87 per cent of public school funding. Today that share is 12 per cent lower. It's not the Commonwealth's job to make up for the states' fiscal illiteracy and mismanagement or the states' pursuit of woke agenda. Look at Steven Miles, the Premier of Queensland. He is driving an agenda that includes gender bending and kiddies talk.

Senator Allman-Payne was talking about human relations. This is bending our children. That's what we're paying for. We should not be paying for that. Reading kids drag queens' story times in schools—ridiculous! It's left to the parent to defend their children and come in and stop it. One Nation stands on the fundamental idea that education is a state responsibility. We support Senator Tyrrell's matter of public importance, and we thank her for it.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the discussion has expired.