I rise to speak on the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024. The primary purpose of the bill is to amend the Australian Education Act 2013 to enable the Commonwealth’s share of funding for government schools to be increased. The government says this is all about delivering its election commitment to put every school on the path to full and fair funding, under its so-called Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, formerly known as the National School Reform Agreement. However, after 2½ years under this government, there is still no national schools funding agreement and there are still no national reforms, and time is running out.
The Commonwealth has reached bilateral agreements with the Tasmanian and Western Australian governments to lift its contribution to government schools from 20 per cent of the schooling resource standard to 22.5 per cent. For government schools in the Northern Territory, the Commonwealth’s share will be a much more significant 40 per cent from 2029, recognising the dire challenges facing Territory schools, particularly in remote communities, and in recent days we have learnt that there is now an agreement between the Commonwealth and the ACT. We certainly welcome this certainty, yet there is no funding deal with the four largest states: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. That means there are no national reforms agreed as the Minister for Education, Mr Clare, promised so that every child reaches his or her best potential. Regrettably, what we have instead is a continuing schools funding war.
I say to the government: there is nothing better or fairer about leaving in limbo almost 5½ thousand government schools across the nation—those in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia—comprising 81 per cent of government schools. With one in three students failing NAPLAN, there is nothing better or fairer about failing to deliver the national school reforms which are critical to ensuring that every child excels in the classroom and reaches his or her best potential.
We know this is a school funding war because, on 21 August this year, Labor state education ministers came to Canberra and protested against the Albanese government. That was a very big step, I might say, but it indicated the level of animosity and hostility between the states, with the ACT, and Minister Clare over the failure to conclude this agreement. That morning the Victorian education minister, Ben Carroll, even declared on ABC radio that when the Liberals were in power they did a better job funding public schools than the current government were. This was obviously very embarrassing for the government. After 2½ years, given how long the minister has been talking about this agreement and given the fact this agreement has been extended by one year, it’s very regrettable that these deals have not been done, and they are of course due to expire on 31 December.
While the government’s draft heads of agreement has been agreed with some of the jurisdictions—with agreement on a number of proposals and important reforms, including evidence based teaching interventions; screening tests, such as the year 1 phonics and numeracy checks; and improved student attendance and performance targets—the reforms are both light on detail and inadequate. The coalition has been demanding that evidence based teaching, such as explicit instruction and the teaching of phonics, be mandated and be available to every child in every classroom.
It is also time that our hardworking, wonderful, committed teachers across this country receive the resources they need to excel in the classroom, because at the moment it’s a real hotchpotch. To put a teacher in the position where they don’t have access to the best evidence based materials is really not good enough. It was only this year, only a number of months ago, that, in Victoria, the minister announced that the Victorian government will move from their whole-language, so-called balanced literacy approach to evidence based phonics, which is very much founded in the science of reading and learning. The fact that we have had a generation of children be subjected to less-than-ideal teaching methods—I would call it the era of loose learning—means we have failed many, many students. In fact, since the 1970s we have failed Australian children by not giving them the very best evidence based teaching, by not giving them the resources that we know work and, of course, by denying our teachers the very best.
On that note, I really want to commend the work of the Australian Education Research Organisation. Established by the former coalition government in agreement with the states and territories, AERO are leading the charge in demonstrating the very latest evidence based teaching methods, including providing practical guides for teachers, to support them in matters such as combating classroom disruption. AERO are doing in incredible job. They are running against the tide in terms of what so many teachers have been taught in universities that are, frankly, totally letting down teachers by giving them a less-than-adequate teacher education. It actually has been woeful. With a couple of exceptions—and La Trobe University is a real standout—generally speaking, our universities have got a lot to answer for in the woefully inadequate teacher training that they have provided over not just years but decades. This bill permits but does not require the Commonwealth to increase its share of funding to government schools beyond 20 per cent with the exception of the Northern Territory, which would receive a 40 per cent share from 2029. These provisions grant the Commonwealth new flexibility in funding arrangements with the states and territories, principally required because of Minister Clare’s school funding war and his threat that the government schools in the four biggest states will miss out on any increase if those states don’t sign up to a 22.5 per cent share from the Commonwealth and, of course, agree to contribute 77.5 per cent to the SRS by the end of the year. In fact, that deadline was set at 30 September, which has now slipped.
At the moment more than 80 per cent government schools are facing a situation where they may effectively not get the funding they deserve from 1 January next year. This is no reflection on the newly elected Crisafulli government, which is still getting its feet under the table after an overwhelming vote of no confidence in Queensland Labor. The bottom line for students, teachers, principals and parents is this funding fiasco must be resolved.
I made this very important point in my senator statement earlier in the day: the coalition has a very fine record of backing schools when in government. I say this because, through his office, the minister is issuing points trying to denigrate the coalition, trying to suggest the coalition cut school funding when it’s anything but. Under the former coalition government, annual school funding increased from $13 billion a year in 2013 to $25.3 billion a year in 2022. Our quality schools package drove record funding of $318.9 billion to all schools between 2018 and 2029. We also strengthened the curriculum with stronger evidence based content, including teaching phonics and the science of reading and learning, and improved teacher training recommendations. We backed our high-achieving teachers and delivered best-practice literacy and numeracy programs to close the gap. Of course there is more to be done, and we say to the government: please get on with it.
I do want to make the important point that, under the current legislated arrangement, the Commonwealth is meeting its SRS obligations of 20 per cent funding to government schools. It was always misleading for the Albanese government to claim it would fully fund government schools when the Commonwealth was in fact meeting its agreed obligations. The shortfall, with the exception of the ACT, was responsibility of the states and the Northern Territory, which was contributing just 59 per cent. Other poor performers were Queensland at 69 per cent rather than the 80 per cent required and Victoria at 70 per cent. It’s very important to put that on the record.
At the end of the day, what is critical is not just the amount of money but how it is used in the classroom—the difference it makes. We know on this side of the chamber—and I have to say, to be fair, it’s well-recognised right across this parliament—that raising school standards is crucial because we have seen some really concerning results continuing through the NAPLAN. One in three children are not meeting the benchmark standards. One in 10 children are so far behind they need catch-up tutoring, so there are some very significant concerns across the four NAPLAN test areas of reading, writing, conventions of language—which is spelling, grammar and punctuation—and numeracy. Year 9 students fared the worst, with 35.3 per cent failing to reach those expected standards or minimum standards of proficiency, falling into either the ‘developing’ or ‘needs additional support’ categories. It is also—I’ve said this before, during the Senate estimates process—concerning that ACARA, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, claims that these stable results are an important achievement. That really is embarrassing. We are a very smart country. Our children are very smart. With the best, evidence based teaching, and by giving teachers the support they need, we can do better. We know we can do better, because even the program for international student assessment shows that, 20 years ago, the average year 10 Australian student was one year ahead in their learning compared to now. So we have seen significant decline, and that is really concerning.
As I mentioned, we are concerned that the reforms proposed in the National School Reform Agreement do not include appropriate obligations in relation to combating classroom disruption. Australia has some of the world’s most unruly classrooms, sitting 71st out of 80 countries on the disciplinary climate index in the 2022 PISA results. We know that, when you have disrupted classrooms, child and teenage students cannot learn. It’s very regrettable that the government has not responded to the many important recommendations made by the Senate inquiry, led very ably by Senator O’Sullivan, into classroom disruption, including a national behaviour survey, a behaviour curriculum and the clear abolition of open classrooms, which we know simply don’t work.
We’ve also raised concerns about the national curriculum not being fit for purpose, and in the Senate inquiry into this bill we heard from primary school principals that it is impossible to teach. I believe more work needs to be done, and it’s very regrettable that the government has not tackled that important task. The coalition supports this bill, but we are strongly advocating for a back-to-basics education sharply focused on literacy and numeracy, underpinned by explicit teaching and knowledge.