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

Thank you, Senator Paterson, for your question. I know that you, Senator Paterson, are driven by wanting the facts and accurate data and information. Quite recently the Productivity Commission released its annual report on government services, and that report provides for interesting reading, which those opposite in particular would benefit from undertaking. It shows that between 2005-06 and 2014-15—over a decade up to the most recent data that is available—total funding from state governments, territories and the Commonwealth to all schools increased by 58.2 per cent, with Commonwealth funding during that time going by 58.2 per cent, compared with state and territory increases of only 18 per cent. Commonwealth funding for government schools has grown in real terms on a per student basis over that decade by 72.4 per cent, compared with average state and territory funding growth over that time of only 9.4 per cent—a vast difference and notably far higher than Commonwealth growth in funding to non-government schools of 25.7 per cent. The total Commonwealth per student increase in funding in real terms grew by 43.7 per cent, compared with that of the states and territories, which grew by just 7.2 per cent.

But what is remarkable is that if you look at a shorter time frame over the five years of the most recently available data, six of the eight state and territory jurisdictions actually reduced their investment in Australian schools. It came at the same time as the Commonwealth government was increasing its investment.