Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth. Minister, what assistance is the government providing to families to help with the cost of school education? How does this build on the significant investment the government has made in school education?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for her question because today the schoolkids bonus will start being paid to around 1.3 million families around Australia, benefitting over two million kids who are going to school in those families. A typical family will receive around $760 but larger families will see more. From next year the schoolkids bonus will be guaranteed—an amount of $410 per primary school student and $820 per secondary school student paid in two tranches at the beginning of term 1 and the beginning of term 3. This is because we know that Australian families do face education costs, whether it is books, whether it is track shoes for kids who are going to sport or whether it is uniforms that kids are growing out of. This will provide much needed support for Australian families raising their kids and getting them through school.

We know that the Leader of the Opposition discounted the schoolkids bonus by simply saying that Australians families would blow it on the pokies. We know that the shadow Treasurer called it a sugar hit. Even today, we had the member for Sturt weighing in and confirming that the opposition has been totally opposed and would be opposed to providing support to families in this way when he said, 'I would be very surprised if the schoolkids bonus made it through a coalition policy process.' I am not so surprised because all they seem to be able to do on that side of the parliament is say no. In this instance they have said no to providing support to Australian families who make hundreds of decisions every week about how they want to support their kids—enabling those families to be able to support their kids with education costs.

I am asked how the schoolkids bonus builds on significant investment this government has made in school education. It is absolutely the case that this Labor government has made significant investments in school education, almost doubling what was spent previously by the coalition. But we have also transformed schools. So when the member for La Trobe goes into schools in her electorate she can see the benefits of some $110 million spent on 118 projects which have benefited 61 schools in her electorate.

For the first time, we have a national curriculum. For the first time, we have transparency in information on the My School website. For the first time, we have a concerted effort to lift investment in digital education by providing computers for kids in schools as well because we know, in the 21st century, those skills are so important. Opposite us in this House is a coalition that has opposed the schoolkids bonus, that wants to take $2.8 billion out of education funding. But primarily it is a coalition that does not understand that we need to significantly commit ourselves to education in this House and that is what this government is doing.