30 October 2024
Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. R.A. Simms:
That this council—
1. Acknowledges the release of A decade of inequity report commissioned by the Australian Education Union which found:
(a) public schools in South Australia educate proportionally twice the number of students from low socio-educational advantage backgrounds compared to private schools and 3.5 times the number of First Nations students than private schools;
(b) under current settings, South Australian public schools will continue to be underfunded by the commonwealth and state governments by $1.8 billion over the next five years, while private schools will be overfunded by $79.7 million;
(c) every public school student in South Australia will be underfunded by $2,003 in 2024, rising to $2,259 in 2028; and
(d) on a per-student basis, every private school student in South Australia will receive $598 above their full School Resource Standard in combined state and commonwealth funding this year.
2. Calls on the federal government to increase their share to a minimum 25 per cent of the School Resource Standard funding to ensure South Australian public schools are fully funded.
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:35): I thank honourable members for their contributions: the Hon. Mr Hunter, the Hon. Nicola Centofanti and the Hon. Ms Game. I want to also thank the education minister's office for alerting me to their amendments before this session. I understand there is some conjecture about the figures that are contained in the motion and on that basis I am happy to remove those figures and to support the government's amendments so that we can expedite this motion through this place.
In doing so, I also think this does potentially strengthen the arm of the government in their advocacy work. I recognise the work of the Minister for Education, the Hon. Blair Boyer, who I know is somebody who is very passionate about public school education and is taking up this fight over in Canberra. Hopefully, this motion strengthens his arm in those negotiations with his federal counterparts.
I briefly want to address the contribution made by the Leader of the Opposition, who has suggested that it is somehow offensive to imply that private schools are being overfunded. I think that is a gratuitous remark. I do not think there is anything offensive in the motion that I have put forward. In fact, I think most South Australians would find it offensive that we have public schools being neglected when it comes to government funding.
Public schools are by their very nature public; they are accessible to everybody in the community, not just the elite few. Access to public schools is not based on the size of your bank balance or what your mum and dad do. Everybody in our state has a right to access a public school and, as such, public schools should be funded accordingly. Public schools should set the benchmark in terms of quality education in our state, and they should be resourced as such. To suggest that it is offensive that a member of this place has suggested that public schools are getting a raw deal I think is a rather unusual contribution to the debate.
I make no apologies for fighting for public schools to get more resources. The Greens make no apologies for doing that. Rather than bending over backwards to curry favour from private schools, we need more members in this place to be advocating for public schools to get the funds they need. That is vitally important. The Greens make no apologies for that. I thank members for their support of the motion.
Amendments carried; motion as amended carried.