I just decided to change my speech in senators’ statements after hearing Senator Polley. As the shadow minister for education, I can say we have been prosecuting from day one the importance of evidence-based teaching in every classroom. I say to Senator Polley: shame on you, Senator Polley, for any suggestion that you have just made that there would be any cuts to school funding under a future Dutton Liberal government. This is palpably untrue.
The Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024 currently before the parliament has already passed the House of Representatives with the coalition’s support. It is absolutely disgraceful that this Labor government has become so desperate to mislead Australians that it is now prosecuting these falsehoods. Senator Polley is not the only one, because the member for Corangamite in a private members motion in the other place also did the same thing—suggested that when the Liberals were in government that we cut billions of dollars from school funding. It is an absolute disgrace.
We are seeing a greater tendency of this government to lie through their teeth, to mislead the Australian people and now we have just heard that in relation—
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Henderson, there is a point of order being raised about your use of the term ‘lie’. I ask you to withdraw that.
Senator HENDERSON: I was referring to the government.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, but there has been a ruling.
Senator HENDERSON: I withdraw. We’re very concerned about the fact that this government continues spread these falsehoods and misrepresent the situation to all Australians. When we were in government, the former coalition government lifted annual schools funding from $13 billion a year to more than $25 billion a year. We nearly doubled annual school funding, so it is a complete embarrassment that Senator Polley, obviously using talking points given to her by the minister for education’s office, is now trying to prosecute this line.
I want to put on the record a couple of really important corrections in response to Senator Polley’s contribution. Time is running out because, while there is a national school reform agreement—and there have been agreements settled with a number of the states, and then most recently the ACT—there is still no national reform agreement with New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. So there is no funding deal with those states and these agreements run out in a matter of weeks, on 31 December of this year. What is really concerning is that there are no national school reforms that Mr Clare promised to ensure every child reaches his or her best potential. We have seen a full-blown school funding war. We know it’s a war because, on 21 August this year, Labor education ministers from the states and the ACT came to Canberra and protested against the Albanese government. The Victorian education minister, Ben Carroll, even declared on ABC radio that morning that the Liberals did a better job funding public schools when in power than the current government. It’s very telling to be called out by your own side of politics, by the Victorian education minister. I have to say it takes a special sort of incompetence for things to get this bad.
We demand and call on this government to get on with the job of finalising these agreements because we have seen the majority of public schools—government schools—which deserve funding certainty being put in limbo. Senator Polley speaks about one in 10 being below the minimum efficiency standards. It’s in fact one in three students who are effectively failing NAPLAN. There is nothing better or fairer about failing to deliver the national school reforms which are critical to ensuring that every child can reach his or her best potential.
We do acknowledge that there are a number of important reforms in the draft agreement which have been settled by some of the states, the ACT and the Northern Territory, including evidence based teaching interventions, screening tests—such as the year 1 phonics and numeracy check—and improved student attendance and performance targets. Unfortunately, these reforms are both light on detail and inadequate. Evidence based teaching methods such as explicit instruction must be mandated in every classroom. We’re starting to see this happen in some states, but this needs to happen in every classroom.
The draft agreement says nothing about the need to further improve the national curriculum or deliver crucial reforms to combat classroom disruptions such as a national behaviour curriculum which was recommended by the Senate inquiry into classroom disruption, very ably chaired by Senator O’Sullivan. Australia has some of the unruliest classrooms in the world. So we are concerned that while this government has committed to some reforms, the reforms do not go far enough.
I also want to place on the record that the Albanese government continues to talk about fully funding government schools. Senator Polley made another mistake in her contribution because the Commonwealth, under the current legislative requirement, does in fact fully fund all public schools. The only state or territory meeting its requirements currently is the ACT. The Northern Territory is at a dire 59 per cent and every state is behind as well, with Queensland’s Schooling Resource Standard contribution to government schools down to 69 per cent and Victoria’s down to 70 per cent. This shortfall is not a responsibility of the Commonwealth under the current agreement. It is because of the shortfall from the states.
Let’s get to the nub of this. We know that it’s not just about the amount of money that goes into government schools and to all schools; it’s what happens in the classroom. Regrettably, through no fault of teachers and other educators, Australian students are not getting the education they deserve. As I mentioned, students are failing dramatically in NAPLAN. In the OECD-run program for international student assessment the average year 10 Australian student is one year behind in his or her learning compared to 20 years ago. What we do know—the Australian Education Research Organisation does an incredible job researching evidence based teaching—is that once children fall behind only one in five will catch up. So students not learning—and teachers not getting the best resources to teach and excel in the classroom—can have a lifetime consequence. Failure to teach children to read and write, to teach the fundamentals of education, fuels disengagement, disfunction and even youth crime. That was very much the finding of the National Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds, who warned that, unless schools do more to help struggling students, things will go from bad to worse. She said the fact that kids have to wait to be in prison to get the one-on-one intensive learning support that need is abominable.
There is much more to be done. There is much to be done on combatting classroom disruption, and so, to that extent, this national reform agreement is very disappointing. There is much to be done in terms of fixing the national curriculum. We heard, during the Senate inquiry into this bill, the Australian Government Primary Principals Association call out the national curriculum, saying it was impossible to teach and that teachers needed a simpler curriculum to focus on literacy and numeracy. It is disappointing firstly that we have not seen this agreement finalised. There is so much smoke and mirrors from the government. Secondly, we’re not seeing all the reforms addressed that need to be.