Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question and acknowledge his support for schools in his electorate. The Investing in Our Schools Program is providing $1 billion in extra funding for schools across our nation for much needed infrastructure and educational tools. This $1 billion, $700 million of it for state government schools, is in addition to the record levels of funding that this government has provided for schools across the nation. In fact, in the case of state government schools, the federal government have increased funding by 118 per cent since we came to office, even though enrolments have only increased by just over one per cent. But members will recall that, when we came to office in 1996, we inherited a $96 billion debt from Labor. I understand from the Treasurer that we used to have to find $9 billion each year just to pay the interest on Labor’s debt. Now that that debt has been paid off—we have paid off Labor’s debt—we are in a position to invest more money in our schools.

There has been huge demand for this program across Australia. Fifteen thousand projects have now been funded, and that means that over 6,000 government schools have received funding under the program. About $650 million has been provided to date to government schools, and that represents 90 per cent of government schools—so almost 90 per cent of all government schools in Australia have benefited under the Investing in Our Schools Program.

The member for La Trobe asked about his electorate. I know he will be delighted to learn that over 100 projects have been funded in his electorate—that is 40 government schools—and we have invested some $4.6 million in his electorate. I know members on both sides have similar stories, because this program has assisted almost 90 per cent of government schools.

Last week, the Prime Minister announced an extension to this program. On top of the $1 billion, we have announced a further $181 million in funding for the Investing in Our Schools Program—$127 million will be allocated to government schools.

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