❓ Question on Notice regarding the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement and other proposals to support public education in WA. The Minister's response highlights the government's commitment and challenges the opposition's stance on federal funding legislation.
AnsweredQoN 749Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
EDUCATION —
BETTER AND FAIRER SCHOOLS AGREEMENT
749. Ms K.E. GIDDENS to the Minister for Education:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's commitment to quality education for all Western Australians.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the delivery of the joint federal–state
Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which will provide increased resourcing
for all WA public schools?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house whether he is aware of any other proposals to support
public education in Western Australia?
BETTER AND FAIRER SCHOOLS AGREEMENT
749. Ms K.E. GIDDENS to the Minister for Education:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's commitment to quality education for all Western Australians.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the delivery of the joint federal–state
Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which will provide increased resourcing
for all WA public schools?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house whether he is aware of any other proposals to support
public education in Western Australia?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for her question and for her great interest in all things
education. It is good to finally have a question
on education posed to me. The opposition spokesperson on education has asked me
I think two questions on education in the last 14 question times. The
last time I received a question on education was 18 September, and prior to
that it was 8 August, so it is good that our side is showing keen interest in
education matters.
In regard to the member's
question, yes, the Cook Labor government is incredibly committed to ensuring
that our public school students and staff receive the support they need in
order for students to succeed. That is why we signed the Better and Fairer
Schools Agreement with the commonwealth. As a result, the federal government
has committed an additional $785.4 million to Western Australian public schools
that will be rolled out over a five-year period from next year. That will raise
the commonwealth's contribution from 20 per cent to 22.5 per cent.
Likewise, the state government will increase its commitment to the same amount. Therefore, $1.6 billion over and
above the normal funding will come into our public education system
between 2025 and 2029. But there are rumblings from Canberra that maybe the
opposition, certainly the Greens and even some of the crossbenchers, may oppose
the necessary legislation that has been introduced by Hon Jason Clare to allow
the commonwealth to increase its funding from 20 per cent. It is very important
that we know the position of the members opposite. Are they going to their
federal counterparts and advocating for the passage of this legislation? If
they are not, they are denying Western Australian public school students $785.4
million over the next five years. This is an incredibly important question that
they must answer. It is incredibly important that the candidate for Bullwinkel
answers this question, as she is now part of the federal election team for the
National Party. As a spokesperson for education for the opposition in Western Australia,
will the member for Roe support the passage of this legislation? Do not get up
and say to me that I should not be asking you questions because what I will
take, if you are unprepared —
The SPEAKER : Minister for
Education, that is exactly right, you should not be asking questions. You will
need to sit in opposition before you get to ask the questions. You can ask a rhetorical
question and you can speculate, but do not expect that you are asking a question
of the opposition.
Dr
A.D. BUTI : It was a rhetorical
question and silence from members opposite in this house or outside this house —
Point of Order
Mr R.S. LOVE : The inference
that the silence is in any way some sort of response is in direct contravention
with the order that you have just made, Madam Speaker, and I ask you to bring
the minister to order.
The SPEAKER : Thank you for
your comment, but it is not a point of order. Minister, you do well know this,
especially since I have just said that it is not your role to ask a question of
opposition members—nor is it their role to respond. You can talk about
them not responding outside the house or whatever, but you should not draw an
inference from them being orderly during question time.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Dr A.D. BUTI : Silence by the
opposition, inside or outside Parliament, on this matter will of course denote
where it stands. That is quite clear.
The member also asked: can the
minister advise the house whether he is aware of any other proposals to support
public education in Western Australia? On 29 January, Peter Rundle, the
opposition spokesperson for education, the member for Roe, published an opinion
piece in The West Australian headed ''Peter Rundle: Underfunding
and lack of staff at schools needs to be government's highest priority''.
It has a great picture there of him in the main street of Katanning or Narrogin—great photo. It is interesting
that this came out a day before we signed the statement of intent with
the federal government—the first jurisdiction in Australia to sign a statement
of intent—to increase our funding. In the op-ed, the member for Roe
states —
The gift to our children of a good
education cannot be over-estimated.
True. He then says that we should
not centralise services. He says —
� my preference would be a ramped up
model with well-resourced local services rather than the centralised services
we see now.
No further detail has been provided
all year. That is the most we have got out of the opposition as far as
education policy is concerned. The member for Roe concludes his op-ed by saying
—
I do listen to the many teachers who
contact me frustrated with the system. The minister should remember that
listening is the key to good communication and outcomes. It is a basic concept
in education.
I am listening, but the member for
Roe has not asked me a question. What does he think about education? What does
he think about the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement? I am listening and
waiting for the member for Roe to communicate.
Then we get to the Liberal Party. We
all know about this great document that it published on the weekend. This
document should have gone into the no-policy show bag that the Liberal Party
gave out at the royal show. When I brought this to the attention of the house
last week, I did not mention that there was the Hon Nick Goiran numbers
calculation on preselection for the Liberal Party, which had in it, ''disbelief
in evolution and creationism plus being an anti-vaxxer equals preselection for
the Liberal Party''. I can tell members why that is the case. In an
op-ed, I think online, the Liberal candidate for South Perth said that we
should not have had mandated vaccinations during the COVID period. Regarding the Minister for Transport, she also said we
were building transport to nowhere. Do the residents of Ellenbrook,
Darling Range, Armadale and Yanchep live nowhere? The Minister for Transport
should look at that. The Liberal candidate for South Perth said we are building
trains to nowhere. If you are an anti-vaxxer and you do not believe in public
transport, you are guaranteed preselection in the Liberal Party according to
the Hon Nick Goiran calculation model.
This document that the Leader of the Liberal Party said was
so great is really interesting when it comes to education, and the Premier
talked about this yesterday. Page 8 of the document states —
We have heard the concerns of our
communities, police, doctors, nurses, teachers, small business owners, and
industries across the state.
But
education is not mentioned throughout the document. If the Liberal Party had
listened to the concerns of teachers —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Dr A.D. BUTI : Madam Speaker,
I am not asking for interjections.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Yes, perhaps you
could bring your answer to a conclusion soon, please. And you cannot interject,
Leader of the Liberal Party.
Dr A.D. BUTI : In that
document, no priority is attached to education. Is that not unbelievable? One
of a state government's major priorities is the education of its
students and citizens. There is not a mention besides the Liberal Party saying
it has listened to the concerns of teachers. Either teachers had no concerns,
which we know is not true because the State School Teachers' Union of
WA has put out an election position document, or the Liberal Party is not
listening. The member for Roe said the Liberal Party should be listening and it
is not listening. We know where the Liberal Party stands on education because
between 2013 and 2015, the Liberal–National government cuts to public education in WA included over $200 million cut
directly from public school budgets in 2014, a further $45 million cut
from secondary school budgets in 2015, over 800 teaching positions and over 1 000
education assistant positions cut in 2014–15, 150 central and regional
office positions cut—that goes completely
against the policy position that member for Roe stated earlier in the year—200
redundancies across the sector in 2015, 110 Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander education officers cut in 2014, and an average reduction in
expenditure of $714 per student per year. The legacy of the Liberal–National
government in public education is absurd, and this document, which does not
even refer to education, just tells us what the Liberal Party thinks about
public education in Western Australia.
thank the member for her question and for her great interest in all things
education. It is good to finally have a question
on education posed to me. The opposition spokesperson on education has asked me
I think two questions on education in the last 14 question times. The
last time I received a question on education was 18 September, and prior to
that it was 8 August, so it is good that our side is showing keen interest in
education matters.
In regard to the member's
question, yes, the Cook Labor government is incredibly committed to ensuring
that our public school students and staff receive the support they need in
order for students to succeed. That is why we signed the Better and Fairer
Schools Agreement with the commonwealth. As a result, the federal government
has committed an additional $785.4 million to Western Australian public schools
that will be rolled out over a five-year period from next year. That will raise
the commonwealth's contribution from 20 per cent to 22.5 per cent.
Likewise, the state government will increase its commitment to the same amount. Therefore, $1.6 billion over and
above the normal funding will come into our public education system
between 2025 and 2029. But there are rumblings from Canberra that maybe the
opposition, certainly the Greens and even some of the crossbenchers, may oppose
the necessary legislation that has been introduced by Hon Jason Clare to allow
the commonwealth to increase its funding from 20 per cent. It is very important
that we know the position of the members opposite. Are they going to their
federal counterparts and advocating for the passage of this legislation? If
they are not, they are denying Western Australian public school students $785.4
million over the next five years. This is an incredibly important question that
they must answer. It is incredibly important that the candidate for Bullwinkel
answers this question, as she is now part of the federal election team for the
National Party. As a spokesperson for education for the opposition in Western Australia,
will the member for Roe support the passage of this legislation? Do not get up
and say to me that I should not be asking you questions because what I will
take, if you are unprepared —
The SPEAKER : Minister for
Education, that is exactly right, you should not be asking questions. You will
need to sit in opposition before you get to ask the questions. You can ask a rhetorical
question and you can speculate, but do not expect that you are asking a question
of the opposition.
Dr
A.D. BUTI : It was a rhetorical
question and silence from members opposite in this house or outside this house —
Point of Order
Mr R.S. LOVE : The inference
that the silence is in any way some sort of response is in direct contravention
with the order that you have just made, Madam Speaker, and I ask you to bring
the minister to order.
The SPEAKER : Thank you for
your comment, but it is not a point of order. Minister, you do well know this,
especially since I have just said that it is not your role to ask a question of
opposition members—nor is it their role to respond. You can talk about
them not responding outside the house or whatever, but you should not draw an
inference from them being orderly during question time.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Dr A.D. BUTI : Silence by the
opposition, inside or outside Parliament, on this matter will of course denote
where it stands. That is quite clear.
The member also asked: can the
minister advise the house whether he is aware of any other proposals to support
public education in Western Australia? On 29 January, Peter Rundle, the
opposition spokesperson for education, the member for Roe, published an opinion
piece in The West Australian headed ''Peter Rundle: Underfunding
and lack of staff at schools needs to be government's highest priority''.
It has a great picture there of him in the main street of Katanning or Narrogin—great photo. It is interesting
that this came out a day before we signed the statement of intent with
the federal government—the first jurisdiction in Australia to sign a statement
of intent—to increase our funding. In the op-ed, the member for Roe
states —
The gift to our children of a good
education cannot be over-estimated.
True. He then says that we should
not centralise services. He says —
� my preference would be a ramped up
model with well-resourced local services rather than the centralised services
we see now.
No further detail has been provided
all year. That is the most we have got out of the opposition as far as
education policy is concerned. The member for Roe concludes his op-ed by saying
—
I do listen to the many teachers who
contact me frustrated with the system. The minister should remember that
listening is the key to good communication and outcomes. It is a basic concept
in education.
I am listening, but the member for
Roe has not asked me a question. What does he think about education? What does
he think about the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement? I am listening and
waiting for the member for Roe to communicate.
Then we get to the Liberal Party. We
all know about this great document that it published on the weekend. This
document should have gone into the no-policy show bag that the Liberal Party
gave out at the royal show. When I brought this to the attention of the house
last week, I did not mention that there was the Hon Nick Goiran numbers
calculation on preselection for the Liberal Party, which had in it, ''disbelief
in evolution and creationism plus being an anti-vaxxer equals preselection for
the Liberal Party''. I can tell members why that is the case. In an
op-ed, I think online, the Liberal candidate for South Perth said that we
should not have had mandated vaccinations during the COVID period. Regarding the Minister for Transport, she also said we
were building transport to nowhere. Do the residents of Ellenbrook,
Darling Range, Armadale and Yanchep live nowhere? The Minister for Transport
should look at that. The Liberal candidate for South Perth said we are building
trains to nowhere. If you are an anti-vaxxer and you do not believe in public
transport, you are guaranteed preselection in the Liberal Party according to
the Hon Nick Goiran calculation model.
This document that the Leader of the Liberal Party said was
so great is really interesting when it comes to education, and the Premier
talked about this yesterday. Page 8 of the document states —
We have heard the concerns of our
communities, police, doctors, nurses, teachers, small business owners, and
industries across the state.
But
education is not mentioned throughout the document. If the Liberal Party had
listened to the concerns of teachers —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Dr A.D. BUTI : Madam Speaker,
I am not asking for interjections.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Yes, perhaps you
could bring your answer to a conclusion soon, please. And you cannot interject,
Leader of the Liberal Party.
Dr A.D. BUTI : In that
document, no priority is attached to education. Is that not unbelievable? One
of a state government's major priorities is the education of its
students and citizens. There is not a mention besides the Liberal Party saying
it has listened to the concerns of teachers. Either teachers had no concerns,
which we know is not true because the State School Teachers' Union of
WA has put out an election position document, or the Liberal Party is not
listening. The member for Roe said the Liberal Party should be listening and it
is not listening. We know where the Liberal Party stands on education because
between 2013 and 2015, the Liberal–National government cuts to public education in WA included over $200 million cut
directly from public school budgets in 2014, a further $45 million cut
from secondary school budgets in 2015, over 800 teaching positions and over 1 000
education assistant positions cut in 2014–15, 150 central and regional
office positions cut—that goes completely
against the policy position that member for Roe stated earlier in the year—200
redundancies across the sector in 2015, 110 Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander education officers cut in 2014, and an average reduction in
expenditure of $714 per student per year. The legacy of the Liberal–National
government in public education is absurd, and this document, which does not
even refer to education, just tells us what the Liberal Party thinks about
public education in Western Australia.
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