Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools) Share this | Hansard source

It is incredible, as the member for Shortland says, particularly in light of the electorate that he represents. I have a lot of time for the member for Grey, but I think he should be conscious of what is going on in our Australian schools at the moment. We are seeing an ever-increasing gap in outcomes, and that gap in outcomes isn't simply around the socioeconomic circumstances of parents; it is particularly apparent in remote and regional communities. It's those schools which need extra support that are falling further and further behind. It's those schools which are being particularly short-changed by this government's short-sighted approach to schools funding.

That's why this debate is so important in a South Australian context. It's not just that South Australian schools will be losing $210 million over the next two years; it's that the formula that this government has put in place will strangle South Australian government schools for funding into the future. The formula that this government has put in place is starving South Australian public schools. That's a fact that the government has not recognised and will not recognise, but it is constraining the future of the communities that make up South Australia. That is something that has been recognised in all the schools that I have visited in South Australia—in Adelaide and elsewhere.

Dr Gillespie interjecting—

The minister at the table, the Assistant Minister for Children and Families, seems to find this an amusing debate. I don't see why he would do so.

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