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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-05-21 Daily Xml
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Federal Budget

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister inform the house about the recent meeting of education leaders that the minister convened to discuss the impact of the federal budget?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:52): Last Friday, I convened a meeting here at Parliament House with the state's education leaders to give them the most up-to-date information we had available in relation to the federal budget. With $5.5 billion to be ripped from the state's health and education budget over the next 10 years, the impact will be nothing short of catastrophic. This was not lost—

The SPEAKER: Point of order from the member for MacKillop.

Mr WILLIAMS: Standing order 98, I think: the fact that the minister uses the expression 'ripped from' indicates that she is debating the answer.

The SPEAKER: I think that's an entirely bogus point of order, and I call the member for MacKillop to order. Minister.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The import of this was not lost on the many organisations that were represented at this meeting. Well-respected groups like the South Australian primary and secondary principals' associations, the Association of Independent Schools, Catholic Education and the South Australian Association of State School Organisations attended at very short notice.

We had principal associations, preschool and childcare associations, children's disability organisations, as well as union representatives and parent groups. Their mood was sombre on arrival. Once briefed, their reaction was that the situation they—we—now face is appalling. President of the Association of Independent Schools, Ms Carolyn Grantskalns, is a fierce but fair advocate for her schools, and she labelled these federal budget cuts as 'deplorable'.

We know the Coalition government plans to erase $320 million in Gonski payments in 2018-19 to South Australian schools and, as I outlined yesterday, the future of universal access to preschools remains uncertain, potentially impacting on something like 20,000 families here in South Australia.

We know it's difficult to attract early childhood education teachers to some disadvantaged and regional areas. It's particularly difficult in remote and Indigenous communities. A $12.4 million national HECS-HELP program, which helped attract early childhood teachers willing to teach in these areas, will be scrapped next financial year. Moneys for childcare learning inclusion projects and professional support programs, the childcare accessibility fund and several more programs amounting to $39.3 million nationally have been taken away. The National Partnership Agreement on TAFE fees for childcare qualifications will close at the end of the year. That is $68 million nationally over four years.

The removal of these funding programs will hit regional and remote areas the hardest. They send the strong message that this Abbott-led government has no understanding of the importance of the early years of a child's development. I heard the federal Treasurer say today the most important task his government faces is to get the economy back on track. Well, you can't do that if you're not investing in your most valuable resource—and that's our children. Whispers from Canberra that this is just the beginning grow louder by the day, and members opposite should take note that the temperature is rising rapidly. Six thousand people protesting—

Mr van Holst Pellekaan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members opposite don't need to do anything. I would ask the minister not to refer to members opposite, because they are not really relevant to the answer.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, sir—and that has been the hallmark, unfortunately, of the opposition: a small target strategy which costs them dearly.

The SPEAKER: I call the minister to order for defying my ruling.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, sir. Our education and children's service leaders are extremely concerned about these devastating cuts. They want more information, we want more information, but not surprisingly the federal government appears reluctant to come clean with the detail of their plans.

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