Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was exciting to welcome the Gonski bus to Parliament House today after it had travelled through the Central Coast and across much of Australia. Special thanks to Correna Haythorpe, Federal President of the Australian Education Union, your members and supporters, and the principals and parents from across Australia who are giving their time to be in Canberra today, sharing Gonski success stories.

I 'give a Gonski' because needs based funding is making a difference in schools on the Central Coast. At The Entrance Public School, extra funding provides a teacher for their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program and a dedicated classroom for coding and robotics. At Wyong Creek Public School, it has meant more teacher aides. Valley View Public School's 'instructional leadership' program is developing and mentoring teachers. Wadalba Community School now has a speech therapist, and Kanwal Public School has six additional student learning support officers. Needs based funding makes this happen. Needs based funding means principals and schools are leading change in their schools and in our communities.

I recently held a round table with Labor's shadow assistant minister for schools, the member for Scullin. We heard from principals, teachers, support workers and parents about the Central Coast experience. We heard from MacKillop Catholic College, Warnervale, whose 2015 dux was a young man with high-functioning autism who, under the guidance of Sue Small and the learning support unit, received the extra support he needed to succeed. We heard from St Mary's Primary School, Toukley, whose positive partnership between ASPECT teachers and other staff has developed the understanding of all educators at the school. We heard from Wyong Christian Community School, where all students benefit from sharing their school journey together with students with disability.

However, there is much more to do, particularly for students with disability. This is an absolute priority area for Labor. We simply cannot continue to fail this group of Australian children. For many families, primary school is the first time there has been a conversation about their child's learning style and how it is different. On the Central Coast, families are waiting months to see specialists such as paediatricians or psychiatrists, which means funding to schools and early intervention for their child are unnecessarily delayed. We also heard of increased mental health issues in teenage years. Secondary schools are on the front line. Teachers are not mental health workers, but they are an integral part of students' lives and they need support during these critical years. I am determined to work with them to better support students in our schools.

I thank the member for Scullin for coming to the Central Coast and listening to my community. Most importantly, I thank the schools in my electorate for sharing their stories and their challenges. This is important work.

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Often we hear about how our schools are underfunded, how the full funding of the Gonski report is the only way if we are to improve the educational outcomes of our schools. Until now, I found this difficult to understand. I distinctly remember during the election being accosted by a special education teacher at one of my schools telling me how functional illiteracy had increased under the Gonski package and all the extra money that had been provided. It just did not make sense to me. But I had no idea how bad things had got. I did not understand the scourge of underfunding until now. Recently it became known to me that one public school in my area has become so desperate for funds that it has been forced to hire out its staffroom. Since 2014 the Labor Party has publicly advertised and held 16 branch meetings in one public school staffroom in my electorate. We all know that the staffroom at a school is what the tabernacle is to a church. It is the holiest of sites at any public school. As a student, I never knew what went on behind those doors, but I knew that it was serious and, in some cases, very serious. So, when I learnt that this staffroom may have been hired out to the local Labor Party, I knew things had gotten really bad for public school funding.

I have written to the New South Wales Minister for Education and asked him to investigate how serious this situation has become. Are any other schools having to hock out their holy sites to political parties for some extra cash? What are the rules surrounding these room hires? Is the Labor Party making school staffrooms as lawless as their CFMEU mates' worksites? Or maybe the Labor Party has the answer to school funding. Maybe, if the Labor Party paid fair room hire rates, it could use some of that $3 million it receives from its union mates each year to help out our schools.

Teaching is a noble profession. In my travels around my electorate, I have met many passionate, committed and inspiring teachers. We cannot let the actions of the few teachers who misuse public property impugn the character of the many amazing teachers in Mackellar. However, the few must be called to account.