Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We on this side of the House know that one of the most important, rewarding and smartest investments that any government can make is in our education sector and particularly to making sure that we have a school system in this nation which will produce the productive, the well rounded, the intelligent individuals who will shape and guide this nation's future. These are the people who will be our workers, the people who will be the parents and the people who will be the citizens who continue to build Australia's future. But, sadly, those opposite do not share this very basic view about the central importance of school education.

It should be said that one of the most destructive and unfair elements of this government's budget was of course in the $30 billion in cuts to school funding that are contained within it. The Prime Minister campaigned that there would be no cuts to education. He campaigned promising that no school would be worse off. He promised to honour the Gonski agreements. But, sadly, not one of those promises has been kept. The budget set out a total of $30 billion in cuts to schools, and the government has done that by pegging school funding to CPI indexation from 2018. The government's own budget papers show that CPI is trending well below three per cent. The education minister is currently ducking and weaving behind the scenes, going around telling stakeholders that this policy will be reconsidered and that of course they will find a way to renegotiate. But there is nothing in these hollow promises, because it is in the budget paper—it is there in black-and-white—that school funding will be absolutely gutted under those opposite. This was confirmed just last week in Senate estimates. There can be no doubt that these cuts are real and that these cuts will be once again confirmed in MYEFO.

The impact of CPI funding indexation is not on the never-never. It is in the budget right now and it is having an impact on our schools right now, and this parliament as a whole needs to stand-up and say that education is more important than that. We have heard from many stakeholders that this is not good enough. We know that the Catholic education commission have warned that the Abbott government's plan to link school funding to CPI would 'create significant pressure on schools and school fees'. We know that David Robertson from Independent Schools Queensland said:

This could only lead to a reduction in programs and educational quality or, in the case of independent schools, significant increases in fees.

But now we have found out that it is the government's own mates who are telling us exactly how devastating this would be. We have recently seen the leaked Queensland government documents saying what we all know to be true—that this will have a devastating impact on every school in Queensland and every school in Australia.

We know from Queensland government documents—that were obtained only under FOI—that Campbell Newman and his mates tried to keep secret, just one week after the $80 billion in cuts to schools and hospitals was announced in the budget, that Queensland analysis showed that 'over the period 2014-15 to 2024-25, there will be approximately $6 billion less funding available to Queensland schools under the new arrangements'. They also went on to say—and I quote—'approximately $2.7 billion less federal funding will be available for Queensland's government schooling sector'.

There is one group of people who have been silent about this. We know that Campbell Newman absolutely knew how devastating this move was but stayed silent on it and did not reveal the truth of this modelling. We also know that, whilst this would be the biggest cut this nation has ever seen to school funding, we have not heard a peep out of Victorian Premier Napthine. We know Premier Baird has had his mouth shut. We know that Premier Newman is absolutely complicit in this and we know that the arrogance of Colin Barnett is palpable. He is happy to shout from the rooftops about GST, but he seems not to have any concerns when $80 billion is ripped out of hospitals and schools across this nation. This is a disgraceful situation. But there is one thing that the Australian public can be absolutely sure of and that is that the Labor Party will not join with these Liberal premiers in staying silent about these cuts. We will stand up and fight for our education sector. We will fight for the future of our schooling sector, because we absolutely recognise just how critical this is to our nation's future.