Better Schools Funding

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. How will the federal government's failure to honour the final two years of the Better Schools funding agreement, known as Gonski, impact Catholic schools in my electorate of Torrens?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:48): Of course, the simple answer is that they are not going to get the money that they deserve and had agreed was necessary. To briefly revisit the circumstances of the Better Schools funding arrangement four years ago, a six-year arrangement, in the final two years 75 per cent of the funding comes in, so most of the difference is made in those last two years. In comes the Abbott government, having won on a platform of, 'No difference between us and Labor, dollar for dollar,' and the Hockey budget just destroys those last two years. Minister Birmingham has, to his credit, pulled back a tiny bit of money under severe pressure from South Australia. We have always stood up for our schools, always argued alongside the other states that education needs to be funded appropriately.

For the Catholic and independent schools—and particularly the member has asked about Catholic schools in her electorate—those schools are not immune from these swingeing cuts from the federal government. In fact, over just the next two years the Catholic school system misses out on some $35 million that they had expected that we had done a deal on, that we had agreed, that the federal government and the South Australian government had signed a deal that that amount of money was necessary for a high-quality education.

So what we have done is we have agreed to add to the funding for both independent and Catholic schools from the South Australian state budget. We have agreed to increase our contribution to them to, in part, offset some of the harm done by this federal government's position. This money, the $110 million over the next four years, will benefit some 93,000 students in schools. For the member's electorate, I will give an example. St Pius X in Windsor Gardens next year will receive some $106,000 additional for educating their kids. We tend to talk a lot about dollars because dollars translates—

Mr Gardner: How many millions will they lose if you don't sign that letter?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: We can talk about the way the federal government is refusing to spend any money on South Australian schools next year, and the South Australian schools are being threatened by the federal government that they will not spend any money on them next year. We have offered an alternative mechanism for them to provide that funding. We do not accept that we are required to sign off on a series of motherhood statements that will make absolutely no difference to the quality of education being provided. We don't accept that that is the case, but the federal government is being incredibly intransigent in refusing to use the net funding mechanisms that it knows it has at its disposal, and I have written a letter to minister Birmingham to that effect today.

Mr Knoll: You won't sign a piece of paper that it's their fault.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: What this will do is both—

Mr Knoll: Sign the piece of paper. Get the $1.2 billion. Get our kids an education. It's fairly straightforward.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: What is occurring at present is that all of the funding for the non-government schools is being threatened—

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned a first and a second time.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: —but the reason we are having this argument is because the federal government has abandoned its position. We had a signed agreement for six years, and it doesn't just affect public schools. It affects non-government schools, both Catholic and independent, and we have had to step up and provide just some money in order to have them be able to be competitive with their interstate counterparts.