Page 563 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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Mr Doszpot said in his speech that now there is certainty. Now there is less certainty than ever before. There is less certainty than ever before. This government signed up to a six-year agreement with the previous government that supported government schools, Catholic schools and independent schools. It was a unity ticket, apparently, until November of last year at which time the federal government completely decimated the national education reform agenda. It has not given certainty. Indeed, it has given lack of clarity, lack of understanding and uncertainty in the outyears.
Our agreement would have given an extra $60 million to the Catholic system here, an extra $30 million to the independents and an extra $100 million to our government schools. Mr Doszpot, by his statement today, is saying he has no interest nor care what funding will go to the Catholic system or to the independent system.
Now the biggest risk to funding for education in this city and across other jurisdictions is this federal government. They want to tear that agreement up and throw new arrangements into place. Mr Doszpot has already said that there is now a national agreement. Again, there could not be anything further from the truth. Those states, the early adopters so to speak, that signed up before the election had a clear commitment that the commonwealth would contribute to all systems. So the states had a commitment. The states—certainly this state—were happy to sign up to a commitment for government and non-government schools.
This so-called national agreement that Mr Doszpot refers to has no commitment from various state governments to provide a single extra cent to the Catholic schools and the independent schools. For Mr Doszpot to say now that everything is tidy and it is all clear cannot be further from the truth. I am not quite sure how often Mr Doszpot talks to the executives of the independent schools here or to the Catholic education system here, but I talk to them regularly. When I talk to them and I say, “I will continue to fight the fight for six years of funding,” they are on my side. They want me to fight for those six years of funding. They would be bitterly disappointed to hear—
Mr Doszpot: You’re rather verballing them, I think, but we’ll see.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot!
MS BURCH: I know I am not verballing them. I think they would be bitterly disappointed to find the shadow minister for education saying that money is not important, the best deal is to have the outyears ripped out of the Catholic and independents’ future planning for funding.
Schools do not fund a month in advance, a term in advance, a year in advance. They need to fund many years in advance. What you have done, Mr Doszpot, has completely—
Mr Doszpot interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot!
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