Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question. I thank her for the opportunity to set the record straight and to make crystal clear to all senators that there has been no cut to Australian government support for students with disability. In fact, there is more funding for students with disability than ever before. This government is providing $5.2 billion for students with disability over the period 2014 to 2017, including $1.2 billion for students with disability in 2015 alone.

In relation to issues around disability loading, the Commonwealth is entirely fulfilling our obligations and we are working on the process for a refined disability loading, which will be determined by nationally consistent definitions, and which will be available for the first time, based on levels of adjustment required by a student.

The Australian government along with states and territories has been working towards gathering the nationally consistent data for students with disability. We believe it is very important to get this right and we know that we must have robust data to do so. In what is a significant achievement, this year will be the first year in which all Australian schools will complete the data collection. The refined loading is on track to be introduced in 2016, as planned, allowing the government and the states and territories to further refine the existing loadings to better support students through the levels of adjustment that are required for a student, not just a label.

Just as this government is committed to delivering on the NDIS, this government is equally committed to making sure we get this process right, that we get the loadings and support for students with a disability right. We are providing this record funding and we will deliver on this policy outcome, contrary to the lies and scares of those opposite.