Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The government will be opposing this disallowance motion. The Capital Grants Program provides funding for non-government schools to improve capital infrastructure where they otherwise may not have access to sufficient capital resources. This program has had long-term bipartisan support.

Capital Grants Program funding is allocated to schools according to identified student need. Indexation of that funding ensures that the value of the capital program is maintained over time. The Australian government is committed to working with the states and territories to get every school to 100 per cent of its fair funding level, and that remains the case. We are obviously strong supporters of public education, and I say that as someone who was educated in public education. We want to see every school get to 100 per cent of its fair funding level, but we need to recognise the choice that many parents make, as is their right, to have their kids educated in a non-government school, and that is one of the reasons for our support for this Capital Grants Program.

We've committed $275.2 million over two years under the Schools Upgrade Fund, and we've already delivered $50 million, under round 1, to more than 1,300 schools. They are schools like Indooroopilly State School in the electorate of Ryan, held by a Greens MP, which received $25,000 for shade structures, and St Joseph's, again in the electorate of Ryan, which received $25,000 for repairs and facility maintenance. If we look at Griffith, also held by a Greens MP, we see that St Martin's and St Laurence's College have received funding through this program. St Martin's received $6,000 for air purification and St Laurence's received $25,000 for a shade structure. Round 2 of the Schools Upgrade Fund is providing $215.8 million for government schools to invest in new facilities, major refurbishments and other capital upgrades. Expressions of interest are now open, and I encourage public schools from across the country to apply to participate. This is the same amount of capital funding as we've provided to non-government schools in 2023.

We need to be very clear that this disallowance motion from the Greens would have the effect of stripping funding from Catholic schools in Greens-held electorates—schools like St Martin's and St Laurence's in the Greens-held electorate of Griffith and St Joseph's in the Greens-held electorate of Ryan. I'm sure there are many other similar examples in the Greens-held electorate of Brisbane. I wonder whether those Greens MPs—Mr Bates, Mr Chandler-Mather and Ms Watson-Brown—are being honest with their constituents, many of whom decided to vote Greens. I wonder if those Greens MPs are being honest about their agenda to strip funding from Catholic schools like the ones I've just mentioned. I think the Greens owe it to their constituents to be honest about their plans to strip capital funding from those schools.

Nothing in what we are putting forward is about taking money away from public schools. Labor governments have always been strong supporters of funding for public education, and I say that as someone who's personally committed to public education. But we do recognise that many parents have good reasons for choosing non-government schooling for their kids. Those schools should not be subject to ideological campaigns by the Greens that seek to remove that funding. I challenge Mr Chandler-Mather, Mr Bates and Ms Watson-Brown to go and face those schools and talk to them about their plans to strip the schools' capital funding because of the Greens' ideological beliefs. That's why we will be opposing this disallowance motion.