Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I grieve for the children of Narranga Primary School in Coffs Harbour in my electorate who are the victims of the bizarre priorities and financial management—or, more properly, mismanagement—of the New South Wales state government. I had occasion to speak in this House recently on the situation in Lowanna, also in my electorate. The small rural school is threatened with the loss of two demountable classrooms, which will leave the school without a library and without the classroom space it requires for a range of educational and community activities. The parents there are still fighting to change the attitude of the state government which, in my view, when you consider the amount of money to be saved by the removal of these classrooms, I described as mean-spirited, small-minded and the illogical.

The situation we find in the urban setting of Coffs Harbour is rather different but equally hard to understand. Here we have a school of more than 600 pupils, the largest public primary school in Coffs Harbour, and yet it does not have a hall. We have a state government which has refused to provide a hall. At the risk of stating the obvious, though the facts are clearly not obvious to the state government, let me outline why the school needs a hall. Coffs Harbour has a semi-tropical climate and the area experiences hot sun in the summer with the attendant risk of skin cancer. There can also be extended periods of heavy rain. The area served by the school will soon see major housing development, which will cause the population in the area to rise. However, the school cannot currently accommodate the drama and music performances, or especially its own presentation day or the formal weekly assemblies. I do not think it is a lot to ask that a school should be able to hold its own presentation day on its own premises.

A hall would also accommodate sports such as gymnastics, volleyball, basketball and netball and allow out-of-hours activities such as school plays and musicals. The school has seven competent musicians on the staff, several teachers with outstanding expertise in drama, and some very enthusiastic organisers who are keen to give the pupils more access to the performing arts. However, they need a suitable setting. For many years Narranga has organised the Coffs Harbour Public Schools Performing Arts Festival. This involves up to 1,500 students. Of course it cannot be staged at Narranga itself and has to be held at another school.

I should add that the school and the P&C have also given much thought to how a hall could be used as a community asset to gain the maximum use from the facility. I am told that when the P&C raised the matter, state officials replied by pointing out that some money had been spent on the school in recent years. This included the modification of toilets to allow three pupils with disabilities to be present at the school and also the provision of air conditioning for demountables. You might think, Mr Deputy Speaker, that such projects were pretty well essential rather than generous, as the state government was trying to make out. It should also be pointed out that the airconditioning of demountables was part of a statewide program and not specific to Narranga. The P&C also informed me that a reply suggested that the state government had contributed to the establishment of a reading room, whereas in fact it had been fully funded by the P&C itself.

For good measure, the committee also provided me with the total they had raised and spent on school projects over the last 10 years. That was quite a sizeable total: $161,508. They also advised that for the same period the comparable total from the state government was some $51,358. The P&C have spent more than three times the amount contributed by the New South Wales state government. Furthermore, they have spent money on projects such as drainage, paving and paths, which, again, one might think would be merely essential works in a well-run school. The P&C say that the school is in the state’s playground seating program, but they decided to buy the seats themselves rather than waiting forever for the state government to provide them. Is the state government hoping that the P&C will decide to finance a hall as well?

But it gets worse. The school urgently needs more toilet facilities to cope with the increase in pupil numbers that has already taken place. Is the state government hoping that the P&C will spare it the responsibility of replacing school toilets which are no longer able to cope? If so, it is displaying a shocking cynicism and dereliction of public duty.

I will turn now to the funding of schools in general. There are, of course, those who try to lay the blame for the problems with financing schools at the door of the federal government. Let us take a look at just what the federal government is doing for Narranga and other public schools. Let me remind the House that state schools are owned, managed and principally financed, at least in theory, by the state governments, with the federal government providing supplementary funding. The federal government is also a substantial funding source for Catholic and independent schools, whose funding is also supplemented by fees levied on students.

Under this government, federal funding for all schools—I repeat, all schools—has increased substantially. Federal funding for state schools has increased in every budget since 1996, by an estimated 104.9 per cent. In the 2005-08 funding period, the federal government will provide an estimated $33 billion for Australian schools—an increase of $12.l billion over the previous four years. Of that $33 billion, $10.7 billion will go to state schools—an increase of $2.8 billion or 35 per cent over the previous funding period. In 2005-06 alone, the federal government spent some $3.2 billion on state schools—a 22.1 per cent increase on the previous year. Is that a mark of a government that has abandoned state schools? No, it is not. It is quite the reverse. It is also a fact that if the New South Wales state government had increased its funding to the same extent as the federal government has done then public schools in NSW, including Narranga and Lowanna, would have been better off to the tune of some $241 million. That would provide a few school halls indeed. It would also provide for new toilets. It would allow Lowanna to keep its library and pay for scores of other projects around the state.

So, while the state government sits back and watches its schools scratch around for funds for essential facilities to make up for its own failings, the federal government has been pumping in money. And where is it going? It does not seem to be going to students in many cases.

And it is not just in the overall funding that the federal government is making a contribution. Last week in the House, the Minister for Education, Science and Training mentioned a school in Queensland that had discovered asbestos in a damaged wall. Was it able to turn to the state government for help? No, it was not. Instead, it was turning to the federal government’s $1 billion Investing in Our Schools program. Are there many other schools turning there because they know that the state governments, which are supposed to be managing schools, cannot be relied upon to meet their basic obligations?

I am proud to say that in my electorate of Cowper, in the last round under this program, 30 New South Wales state schools received a total of $1.3 million; and, yes, the federal government did give money to the Narranga school. The government provided $50,000 for air conditioning and the improvement of various outdoor facilities. Whether we are talking about our highways, our health service or our schools, the New South Wales state government is failing to deliver. In the case of Narranga Primary School, we have a successful, well-run school with active and committed teachers and parents, which is being let down by the state government. It is high time that the New South Wales state government learned that being in power entails responsibility. It is time that those responsibilities were met.

Narranga is a school which strives to achieve excellence. I would like to commend the great work of Principal Graham Doust and his staff, and the support of the P&C and the wider school community, in achieving great educational outcomes. However, if this school is to achieve its maximum potential it needs a hall. It needs a hall to put on drama productions, it needs a hall to put on music performances and it needs a hall to bring the school together under one roof to build on the strong school spirit that currently exists.

Narranga school is not on the radar screen as far as the New South Wales government is concerned; it is high time that it was. Bussing children across town at the cost of thousands of dollars to access facilities which should be available on-site is just not acceptable in the 21st century. The message to the New South Wales government is simple: Narranga needs a hall. It needs it now. It is about time the New South Wales state government fulfilled its funding responsibilities and provided that hall.