Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently received letters from some very passionate teachers and parents in my local area asking me to speak up on behalf of students with disabilities and their school communities. One of those teachers was actually my daughter Elizabeth, who I am very proud of and know to be a very dedicated teacher.

These people expressed to me that the needs of students with disabilities are not currently being adequately resourced in our schools, particularly in the non-government sector. The Labor government committed to the Gonski plan for school funding, which included loadings for students with disabilities to ensure schools would receive additional support to make sure that they were able to address their needs. Labor put in place $100 million of interim loading in 2014, while the true level of need and consistent national methodology was being worked out in consultation with the states and territories. Before the last election, the coalition promised to support Labor's proposal and implement the Gonski plan in full.

Amongst other things, this government has failed to deliver on the expected increase in funding for students with disabilities in the budget and they have also failed to extend the interim More Support for Students with Disability program. This is another of the broken promises by the Abbott government. It is a part of the $80 billion cut to schools and hospitals and a betrayal of the students with disabilities, their families and their schools.

Parents of children with disabilities are worried that their children will not get the support they need nor will they get a fair go. They fear that their kids will not get the opportunity to achieve their full potential in life. Disturbingly, the funding for students with a disability is alarmingly low, given the high level of support that they actually need.

Now, tragically, we find many of these kids are lost in the mainstream education, forcing parents to contemplate withdrawing them from traditional education in favour of homeschooling. These students, in turn, miss out on important aspects of schooling, including socialising in a school community, while other students actually miss out on a level of diversity in the school environment.

My daughter Elizabeth is not only a dedicated teacher but a mother of a child with a disability. My grandson Nathaniel is on the autism spectrum and he attends a local systemic Catholic school. Elizabeth loves her job, but says that she goes to school each day with a sense of dread. In a letter she wrote to me, she said:

I dread the phone call that reports my son has thrown a chair across the classroom.

I dread the phone call reporting that my son has been suspended because he was so frustrated with the noise in the overcrowded classroom that he has had a meltdown.

This is my life at the moment. This is the life of so many parents of kids with disabilities.

This dread would be eased with the commitment of appropriate funding. Such resourcing would allow our kids to feel like they are part of society.

Proper resources would allow our kids to dream about their future, including attending university. Funding would ease the likelihood of a lifetime of welfare.

Our kids just want to know that they have a place in our community. Therefore, the government must accept that they need to do more in education. At the moment, they are devaluing students with disabilities.

I would like to say this to all parents, teachers and particularly students with a disability, including my grandson Nathaniel: I care.