Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

You may not like to hear them but these are the facts, Senator McKenzie. They have locked school funding to CPI from 2018, with the budget papers assuming CPI will be just 2.5 per cent and the ABS Education Price Index currently 5.1 per cent. This is a huge cut in real terms. They have also blamed Australian voters for the broken promises on schools and completely trashed their 'unity ticket' on schools. Before the election—those opposite might want to recall this—Mr Abbott promised on 4 August 2013 at a press conference:

Kevin Rudd and I are on an absolute unity ticket when it comes to school funding.

Leave the Senate chamber, Senator McKenzie. You do not like to hear the facts. On 29 August, Mr Pyne said:

You can vote Liberal or Labor and you'll get exactly the same amount of funding for your school.

Before the election, Mr Pyne was also crystal clear about the coalition's commitment to the Gonski model and to needs-based funding, telling voters:

We have agreed to the government's school funding model.

Mr Pyne also said on Radio National Breakfast on 30 August 2013:

We are committed to the student resource standard, of course we are. We are committed to this new school funding model.

And finally as Australians entered polling booths on election day, they were faced with signs that read, 'Liberals will match Labor's school funding dollar for dollar.' This is not the case. The government has claimed most recently in a Senate report on equity and excellence in schools, that:

The Government has met its election commitment and is clear in its support for students with disability and their families and carers.

This is patently not true. Ask any disability organisation, ask any stakeholder, ask any student, parent or teacher who was misled before the election because before the election, the government promised:

If elected to Government the Coalition will continue the data collection work that has commenced, which will be used to deliver more funding for people with disability through the 'disability loading' in 2015.

That was also Mr Pyne in his media release on 23 August 2013. The full implementation of the loading for students with disability, however, was scheduled for 2015. This was to allow time for data collection and further collaboration with the states and schools systems to ensure the final disability loading would give students the resources they needed.

Definitions of the disabilities that attract extra support vary significantly between states—and so does the average level of support, which ranges from $4,000 in South Australia to $40,000 in Tasmania. Labor funded the $100 million per year More Support for Students with Disability program to make sure those students who need the most assistance got the assistance they needed, while work continued to finalise the full Gonski disability loading in 2015. Before the election, this process, just like the Gonski school funding reforms, had bipartisan support. The government's promise was clear and straightforward. However, students with disability, along with their parents and carers, have been utterly betrayed by this government. In this year's budget, the government cut the $100 million More Support for Students with Disability program and failed to replace it with the promised additional funds. At the same time, stakeholders are reporting that the government has dropped the ball on the finalisation of the full Gonski loading.

There has been almost no consultation, and when consultation has occurred, it has been rushed and secretive. This means that neither the promised additional funding, nor the promised full Gonski loading for students with disability will be implemented next year. And students with disability will have $100 million in support cut next year. Today's amendments to funding for independent special schools would not be necessary if the government had kept their commitment to introduce the full Gonski disability loading in 2015 and invest the extra money they promised.

This government has been absolutely shameless in pretending black is white, in rewriting history and sliding away from its clear commitment to our schools. However, the most heartless of all broken promises in education is undoubtedly the broken promise to fund the full Gonski disability loading from 2015. The government made promises to get elected and then cut support for students with disability in the budget. It stands condemned for this heartless break of faith.