Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is great to rise to speak on this MPI today. Good education is crucial to the personal development of Australian children and to our progress as a country. In my local electorate I have introduced the Petrie Shield to recognise the good work that students in my schools are doing right throughout the Petrie electorate. It was interesting to hear the member for Moreton speak, a member whom I respect, as I know he is a former educator. When he said that there was a unity ticket at the 2013 election in relation to Gonski funding, he is absolutely right. I ran in that election; I remember it well. We made a solemn commitment to fund Gonski for the forward estimates for four more years, which we have done, so we are 100 per cent on a unity ticket. The member for Mitchell is 100 per cent right when he said that funding has doubled over the last decade. He said it is a hundred per cent increase. From 2013, when we took office, through to 2023, ten years from now, funding doubles; it increases 100 per cent. It goes from something like $12 billion a year to something like $25 billion a year.

I believe that the member for Sydney has misrepresented the government in this MPI today when she talks about, 'The government's failure to properly fund Australian schools'. The member for Sydney went on to say, 'It's not just all about funding,' but that is not what the MPI topic says, and that is not what she just finished her debate with. All she wanted to do was talk about funding. There is no dispute in relation to needs based funding. The government 100 per cent supports needs based funding, and I have seen the impact of that in schools in my electorate. The member for Sydney said the principals need more say in schools. The results in The Australian today are not great for the overall nation, but in Queensland we are doing quite well, and principals have a big say in their schools. The members opposite from Queensland would know that in Queensland we have many independent public schools that the Newman government set up—and that we have encouraged—where principals have a say, which makes a big difference in their schools.

We are doing a lot. The coalition will have a record increase in funding to $16 billion this year, and it goes up to something like $20 billion in 2020. We know that funding continually goes up, so I say to those opposite: every time they mention the words 'cutting funding', they are misleading the public. They are misleading people in their own electorates. I do not know how they can stand there and look at themselves and say, 'Oh, they're cutting funding,' when funding doubles over the next ten years. Give me a break.

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