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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-14 Daily Xml
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School Funding

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:29): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. What will be the impact on country schools and low SES schools of the federal budget and the decision to scrap Gonski?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (15:29): I thank the member for Reynell for her question. By failing to honour the last two years of the signed Gonski agreement, Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne are cutting $335 million out of schools across South Australia. This $335 million federal cut has been confirmed by the Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre in their recent report. This report highlights that the cuts will hit the people who can least afford it the hardest. The report states, 'The primary objective of the proposed changes is to reduce government expenditure on education.'

Both the Catholic and Independent schooling sectors have been critical of the federal government's decision to scrap Gonski. Catholic Education SA is reported as stating that the lowest resourced schools should be a priority, but these changes make it harder to get money to the SES schools. The Association of Independent Public Schools holds the view, as does this government, that the federal government should not be paying more to educate a child in New South Wales, for example, compared to a child in South Australia. Where is the equity? Where is the principle?

For a school in the South-East, like Kangaroo Inn Area School, a school of just under 100 students, this means an indicative loss of around $122,000 in funding, resources and support. Only the other week, the Chair of the Governing Council of Kangaroo Inn Area School wrote to express her and the governing council's deep concern about the impact these cuts will have on their school. Their school community gets that these cuts will put at risk their most vulnerable students—the students who need more, not less, support. That is why they have joined the fight and taken the issue up with minister Pyne and the federal member for Barker.

More broadly, schools across the state's South-East stand to lose around $12 million in federal funding. That is the equivalent of more than 100 teachers, 130 SSOs, and it will mean less support for the students who need it most. In the member for Mount Gambier's electorate, schools will miss out on an indicative funding of $6 million, Reidy Park Primary School losing out on nearly $800,000 or the equivalent of seven extra teachers. The schools in the member for MacKillop's electorate stand to miss out on $6.2 million in Gonski funding, resources and support. Naracoorte Primary and High School together stand to lose more than $1 million.

As schools such as Kangaroo Inn, Reidy Park and Naracoorte Primary and High schools start to come to terms with the long-term impact of losing this funding, what we have heard from the members for MacKillop and Mount Gambier is not a peep. It is time that members opposite stood up for their local areas. It is time they stood up to the Abbott government for the schools in their electorates, for their constituents and their children who will bear the brunt of these cuts. We will continue to fight for a fair deal for all South Australian schools, and we urge members opposite to stand up. Your communities are waiting to hear from you.

The Hon. J.R. Rau: Hello, konnichiwa.

The SPEAKER: Is someone not speaking English in the chamber?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Mr Speaker, I understand there is a precedent for not speaking English in the chamber, as led by the Hon. Mario Feleppa MLC.

The SPEAKER: That wasn't this chamber.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The parliament.

The SPEAKER: I distinctly heard interjections in Japanese. The member for Morialta.

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