Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The systemic inequity in funding of some Jewish schools in my electorate is an issue that I wish to raise today. My colleague the member for Perth, the shadow minister for education and training, visited several schools with me in my electorate last month with a view to getting a first-hand appreciation of the differing needs of these schools, which have been disadvantaged by the prevailing socio-economic status, or SES, formula that is used by the education ministry to determine the funding to schools. Successive Howard government ministers of education have promised these schools in my electorate that this formula would be reviewed. The promise comes before each federal election. They were first made by education minister Kemp and then by education minister Nelson. And, of course, after each minister is re-elected they have failed to do anything about this inequitable funding. This issue transcends party politics in my electorate: improving access to quality education at these schools will affect the futures of a great many of my constituents long after the outcome of this election is decided.

The schools that the member for Perth and I visited were the Gandel Besen campus of Mount Scopus, Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah and Adass Israel School. They are subject to the same funding assessments by postcode as schools which are far better endowed, and yet those other schools do not provide substantial fee reductions or waivers for large families or have families of 14 or 15 kids attending, as with these particular schools.

It is to their credit that these schools and other schools adopt such an inclusive approach to education within their community, and nothing should happen to disadvantage them. Above all they should not be penalised for finding themselves cash-strapped because the present funding arrangements are predicated on the assumption that, being schools in wealthy postcodes, they must of course be wealthy.

The visits to these schools with the member for Perth resulted in a number of announcements reflective of my commitment and that of the Australian Labor Party to enhancing accessibility to education generally and, more specifically, to ensuring that parents are able to access the education they choose for their children. The member for Perth hit the nail on the head in an article on the front cover of last Thursday’s Australian Jewish News when he said:

“Because of historical factors determining the location of synagogues, there is often no relationship between the socio-economic status of the area in which a Jewish school is located and the financial capacity of parents whose children attend these schools …”

With the member for Perth,  I met two little girls at one school and we asked them, ‘How many kids are there in your family?’ One had 14 kids in her family and the other had 15 siblings. As the member for Perth said in his media release, the tendency of these families to have large numbers of children often makes even modest school fees a financial burden, when they are multiplied by each child. This is particularly the case when they live in an area because of its proximity to a synagogue or to kosher food, not because they want to live in a wealthy postcode. It means that they are being disadvantaged by the formula that is a catch-all for that area and that does not effectively reflect their interests or means.

With the member for Perth, I visited all of these schools and we looked at another issue that disadvantages them, and that is the issue of security. As was established in a recent Sunday program that I participated in, these schools have a terrorist target rating equal to that of the US embassy in Canberra. This is the situation as presented to them by the relevant Australian government security agencies. Parents at these schools have to make substantial efforts to see that their children are protected. There are armed guards at practically all of these schools. The amount that is paid for security by individual parents is in addition to their school fees and often amounts to 10 or 15 per cent.

The member for Perth said that it was his aspiration to provide assistance to all schools so that expenses no longer have to be covered by a school budget that would be better put toward teaching and learning. I understand that this is a suggestion the shadow minister for education is going to be making to all Australian schools that have a similar problem with security. It is a non-partisan thing that will be done for any school from any background having that particular problem. Funding security is something that I strongly support.

In his short but highly productive stint as shadow minister for education and training, the member for Perth has grasped the need for the further funding arrangements for schools in my electorate for which I have long campaigned. (Time expired)