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

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer please outline to the House the choice the government is making to deliver fair, needs based funding for all Australian schools, and will the Treasurer please outline the importance of fully funding our education commitments?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for his question and I particularly thank him for the opportunity to join him in Brisbane last week to announce $120 million for the Deception Bay flyover. But right next to the Deception Bay overpass is Arethusa College. That college is an independent special assistance school in his electorate and their funding per student over the next decade will increase by 83 per cent as a result of the increase in school funding that we are providing in this budget. Later that day I was with the member for Forde; we were at the Shailer Park State High School. They have an increase of 60 per cent for the students in that school—some $6½ million dollars. The member for Robertson and I were in Gosford earlier that week. Both Gosford High School and Gosford Primary School have a 60 per cent increase in funding from the Commonwealth government, which is part of our $18.6 billion increase in funding for schools around the country.

It is based on a fairer and simpler model of genuine Gonski needs based funding—not the 27 special deals which were done by the Leader of the Opposition and others when they were in government, but a fair dinkum, simple process which lets the light in and lets every parent see the Commonwealth support that is flowing to their schools. In public schools we have already seen our support lift from 13.4 per cent of that needs based funding to 17 per cent, and it is on its way to 20 per cent—which will be there for every single public school in this country. We have made the right choice in this budget to support education and schools funding on a genuine needs based approach. The shadow Treasurer told his constituents in Fairfield back in 2015 in national Gonski week:

… Gonski is in our DNA. It is who we are.

It was his 'we are us' moment. It is certainly not in his DNA any longer, because the Labor Party are walking away from needs based Gonski funding in favour of their special deals.