Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise to speak on the Australian Education Amendment Bill 2014. I would like to commence by talking about a few points in this debate that have been raised by members of the opposition in which they continually talk about so-called 'spending cuts' to education. It seems to me that they have a policy that, if they continue to repeat this mantra with all their talking points about these so-called cuts, it will somehow become the truth.

Rather than taking my word for it, let's look at what the facts actually are with these so-called cuts to education—remembering that this is during a time when we are under significant budget pressure and for the last six years the government has spent on average more than 10 per cent more than they have actually raised in taxes. Against that background, the problem that we have with the debt, the ongoing obligation to pay the interest on the debt that Labor has run up and which now runs at $13.5 billion this year, the coalition government is still increasing education spending across the board by eight per cent this year, eight per cent next year and eight per cent the year after.

In fact, if we drill down to the figures in my home state of New South Wales, the figures for what we are doing in the education space are even more impressive. For this 2014-15 financial year, education spending from the Commonwealth to all New South Wales schools increases 6.7 per cent. Next financial year it is up a further 7.8 per cent. In 2016-17, on top of that is another increase, this time 9.4 per cent. In what would be the final year if this coalition government runs its three-year term—the final budget this government would hand down, which would be the 2017-2018 budget—it would be another 5.7 per cent increase. That amounts to $1.354 extra Commonwealth spending in New South Wales. That is a 33 per cent increase from 2013-14 to 2017-18.

When coming from a public school background the news is even better. In fact, from Labor's 2013-14 last budget to what would potentially be the coalition's last budget in 2017-18, federal government spending to New South Wales public schools will increase 49.6 per cent. I say that again to dispel some of the myths about how we are cutting education. Spending under this government will be 49.6 per cent higher in our last budget than the last budget of the previous government.

Yet we still have all this discussion about cuts and cuts and cuts. Perhaps the last word on these so-called cuts belongs to ABC Fact Check. We know the ABC always gets it right, so I am very happy to quote from them. This is what they had to say about these so-called cuts:

The verdict: The Government did not cut $30 billion from schools in the May budget. The $30 billion figure—

referring to the claims by the Labor party—

is calculated over a 10 year period starting in 2017. It adds up the difference between the increase in funding that Labor says it would have delivered and the increase the Government may deliver. There is too much uncertainty for such a long-term estimate to be reliable measure of either cuts or savings.

Ms Ellis is 'spouting rubbery figures'.

When we talk about cuts or increases that Labor may deliver, we know that pigs may fly, because they have simply no idea where this money is coming from. I am very proud to be part of a coalition government that is delivering such substantial increases to New South Wales schools, especially New South Wales public schools, which will see almost a 50 per cent increase in their funding from the federal government. That is even more impressive during such times of difficult budget arrangements.

To the specifics of the bill, the first purpose of the Australian Education Amendment Bill is to amend the Australia Education Act 2013 to allow payment of additional funding in 2014 to schools with large numbers of Indigenous boarding students from a remote areas to meet an identified resourcing shortfall. The Indigenous boarding initiative announced in the 2014-15 budget will provide a further $6.8 million to eligible schools and regulations will determine school eligibility and amounts of the funding initiative. Yet another $6.8 million going into education funding.

Secondly, this bill will provide funding cuts to students with disabilities and other students in some independent special schools and assistance schools to actually prevent those cuts that would otherwise occur from 1 January 2015 by ensuring transitional funding arrangements for these schools that are consistent with other schools under the act.

Thirdly, the bill makes a number of minor corrections to errors and omissions that occurred during the original preparation of the act prepared by Labor and which undermine the intended operation of the act and correct funding and regulatory—

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

That is right, fix uncertainty for schools. These amendments will ensure, amongst other things, the correct calculation of Commonwealth government entitlements for all schools. The financial impact of this is $6.8 million in additional funding for eligible non-government schools in 2014-15 under the Indigenous boarding initiative and an additional $2.4 million for special independent schools.

It is not only money that goes into education; what is also very important is what is taught in our schools. That is why I congratulate the education minister for his review of what was in our national curriculum. We had those cross-curriculum priorities embedded across all areas of the curriculum. They were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture, Asia and Australia's engagement in Asia, and, of course, sustainability. While they may all be very important in their own respect, embedding them across every area of the curriculum can only cause enormous problems.

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