Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise tonight for two reasons. First, in accordance with standing order 207, I present a petition to you and to members of this House.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of concerned citizens draws to the attention of the House the closure of the Balwyn Post Office in Whitehorse Road, Balwyn, Victoria. This petition notes that:

We therefore ask the House to urge the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity to consult with the board of Australia Post about re-establishing a post office in Balwyn.

from 5,354 citizens

Petition received.

I take this opportunity to also thank the Mayor of Boroondara, Councillor Nicholas Tragas; his fellow councillor Dick Menting; the head of the Balwyn Traders Association, Ian Bird; and my parliamentary colleague at the state level Mr Robert Clark, the member for Box Hill.

This has been a critical issue in the electorate. I have received hundreds of pieces of correspondence and met with many locals who have been inconvenienced by the decision of Australia Post to close their post office in Whitehorse Road, Balwyn. They have told me that this is not part of a rationalisation of their post offices—because I know that many in this House in their own electorates have seen community post offices suffer a similar fate. But, that being said, we really do need in this bustling shopping strip a post office that will stand alone. Therefore, while the newsagency in Whitehorse Road, Balwyn, has been turned into a community post office and is providing some services, this is not enough. We will bring every pressure to bear on Australia Post to open a new stand-alone post office, and I think this is a critical issue to the people of Kooyong.

The other issue I want to briefly raise in the time allowed to me is the future of school funding under this government—in particular, funding for non-government and Catholic schools. Kooyong is an educational metropolis. We have over 50 schools, both public and non-public. Over 30,000 school students every day go to school in Kooyong. It is our biggest industry and our biggest asset. It is, to draw an analogy, what the car industry is to Geelong or what the wine industry is to the Hunter Valley. Therefore I am particularly concerned about this government's ideological preoccupation with cutting funding to non-government and Catholic schools.

This is not a new preoccupation. This is not the new Julia; this is in fact the old Julia. We do not have to think far or hard to the time when Julia Gillard was the soul mate of Mark Latham when in 2004 he took to an election a hit list of schools. Schools that would have been cut under this program in my own electorate are Camberwell Grammar School, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Fintona Girls School, Methodist Ladies College, Ruyton Girls School, Scotch College and Trinity Grammar School. All of these schools are great educational institutions and are the home for aspirational parents who send their kids there.

This government's decision to not guarantee the funding maintenance principle will see over 1,000 schools in Australia have their funding cut in real terms. This includes 13 schools in Kooyong: Bialik College, Erasmus School, Genazzano FCJ College, Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish School, St Bede's Parish School, Our Holy Redeemer School, Sacred Heart Parish School, St Anne's Parish School, St Dominic's School, Siena College, St Joseph's School, St Bridget's Primary School and All Hallows School—13 schools, double the number of schools in Lalor. No wonder the Prime Minister does not care. And, now that it is in partnership with the Greens, we can only expect a harsher school funding proposal and principles from this government which will be to the disadvantage of all school students in Victoria and Australia.