Penny Allman-Payne

by leave—I move amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3040 together:

(1) Schedule 1, item 3, page 4 (line 11), omit "20 per cent", substitute "22.5 per cent".

(2) Schedule 1, item 7, page 5 (line 19), omit "20%", substitute "22.5%".

Given that the government won't support increasing the Commonwealth contribution to 25 per cent, this amendment seeks to increase the contribution of the federal government to our public schools to 22½ per cent.

Minister, this is your policy. This is the amount of contribution that you put in your offer to the states. Voting for this amendment is your opportunity to protect our public schools from backsliding under a coalition government. If you believe that 22½ per cent is a fair contribution that should be made by the federal government to our public schools, then you should lock it in for all of them. In your previous comments, you stated that you don't want to give blank cheques. I can tell you now that public schools, public school teachers and public school students have not been asking for blank cheques and we've been running on empty for over a decade.

Teachers dip into their pockets every year to the tune of $1,000. No-one is asking for a blank cheque. They're asking for a government that gives a damn about public education in this country. It is on its knees. There is a reason why parents feel like they have no choice but to fork out thousands of dollars to send their kids to the private school up the road because it is better resourced than the public one. It should be the job of governments to give every young person in this country the opportunity to have a well-funded, high-quality, world-class free public education. For over 13 years, we have not had that—not under the coalition and not under Labor. You went to an election and said that no-one would be left behind. You wanted and you believed in public education. If the minister believes in public education, show us.

I speak for thousands upon thousands of public school teachers in this country who believe that the federal government does not care about our public schools, because they see the amount of money that gets shovelled out of the door—$51 million every day—into our private school system. They drive past them in their cars with their cranes and their new buildings going up. They go into their classrooms that need paint, that have asbestos in them, that aren't cool in summer and that don't have the resources that they need. They look at the young person in front of them who is neurodiverse and who can't get a support teacher for more than two hours a week. They look at the young child with a disability who can't get up to the science block, because they don't have a lift.

Teachers deal with this and young people in public schools deal with this every single day, yet the teachers show up because we care about the kids in front of us—the majority of kids in this country who are educationally disadvantaged who attend our public schools. Teachers do this every single day, despite the fact that their governments don't care, despite the fact that they are underresourced, despite the fact that there is no end in sight to that underresourcing and despite the fact that they get abused in the media and by governments. By telling us there are no blank cheques, you might as well just say, 'You're not doing a good enough job.' Try doing the job when you are underresourced year after year.

Teachers have had enough. When you got elected to government, they thought that somebody cared and it was going to change. Well, it's changing a bit, but it's not 100 per cent, and you know it. So, if you really care, if you really believe that public schools in this country should get 22½ per cent, like you've put on the table, then lock it in for all of them. I commend this amendment to the House.

Sarah Henderson

I recognise Senator Allman-Payne's commitment to public education as a former teacher, but I want to put on the record that I did not appreciate the slight against our government, because the previous coalition government nearly doubled annual school funding, from $13 billion in 2013 to $25.3 billion in 2022. I think it's also important to point out that the funding shortfall, to be fair, is actually not the responsibility of the Commonwealth under the existing legislation. So, Senator Allman-Payne, you really should be looking at the states which have fallen well short of their contribution.

I think it's really important that anyone listening to this debate or reading the Hansard understands the facts that, under the current Gonski funding model, the Commonwealth was meeting its 20 per cent share and that there were dramatic shortfalls in funding but the shortfalls were not the responsibility of the Commonwealth; they were the responsibility of the states and the Northern Territory. The only jurisdiction meeting its Gonski funding commitment to government schools was the ACT. So I think it is very important to put those facts on the record.

Anthony Chisholm

Thanks, Senator Allman-Payne. I've seen your passion in regard to public education in this chamber and also in Senate estimates. The government has a proud record of support for public schools. Indeed, the minister himself is someone who's been very passionate in his defence of public schools and, at the same time, the teaching profession. He recognises the role that teachers have played in his life, and the work that he wants to do to lift the standing of teachers and the profession across the country is really important.

The government won't be supporting this amendment. The minister has been clear that additional funding needs to be tied to reform. This amendment wants the Commonwealth to provide additional funding for states and territories without embedding the reforms that will actually help Australian students catch up, keep up and finish school, which are exactly what we want to do to build a strong and sustainable education system in this country.

Matt O'Sullivan

The question is that requests for amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3040 be agreed to.

Summary

Date and time: 8:26 PM on 2024-11-26
Senator Pocock's vote: Abstained
Total number of "aye" votes: 13
Total number of "no" votes: 23
Total number of abstentions: 40
Related bill: Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024

Adapted from information made available by theyvoteforyou.org.au