Whilst I am delighted to be speaking on today's MPI and the coalition government's reforms to school education, I am disappointed that I am not here discussing vocational education and that we are not having an MPI on vocational education—
Mr Husic interjecting—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Coulton ): The member for Chifley will not debate while he is walking around the chamber.
Mrs ANDREWS: because it is certainly an issue that is of importance to the coalition government, and I do hope that in the future we will be in here discussing vocational education during an MPI because we have a fantastic story to tell about vocational education here in Australia. Can I also say that the coalition government does not see education in discrete lots. We actually see education as an education highway—
Mr Husic interjecting— T
he DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Chifley is warned.
Mrs ANDREWS: where people are able to embark on education through early childhood, through school and into vocational education and higher education. So I am very keen to discuss in detail vocational education, but today we are here to discuss schools, and I am very happy to put on the record, yet again, some very important facts.
The coalition government is going to commit an additional $18.6 billion for Australia's schools over the next decade, starting from 2018, and it is going to be distributed according to a model that is fair, needs based and transparent. Under what is clearly a landmark in school reforms, the Quality Schools reforms, Commonwealth funding for Australian schools is going to grow from a record $17.5 billion in 2017 to $30.6 billion in 2027.
This includes more than $2.2 billion in new funding over the first four years to be included in this year's budget, following on from an additional $1.2 billion in last year's budget. It is a record $242.3 billion that will be invested in total schools recurrent funding from 2018 through to 2027, including $81.1 billion over the period 2018 to 2021.
We are going to do a number of things with our reforms, but, critically, we are going to end Labor's 27 special deals with states and territories, unions and the non-government school sector. The changes we are making are going to ensure that all of our schools and states transition to an equal Commonwealth share of the resource standard in a decade, unlike the 150 years of inequity that current arrangements would entail.
There are quite a few stats that I would like to go through today that are important in the context of this debate to make it very clear that states and territories are responsible for the overall quality of school education in their jurisdictions and also the major funder of schools, providing around 66 per cent of total public funding in 2014. At the sector level, current government funding—Commonwealth, state and territory—accounts for 94 per cent of funding for government schools, 73 per cent for Catholic schools and 42 per cent for independent schools.
All schools receive funding from the Australian government and from state and territory governments.
Over the last decade, Australian government per student funding for government schools has been growing faster than state and territory government funding. Government funding per student, recurrent funding, to government schools increased by 72.4 per cent in real terms over the 10 years to 2014-15, while comparable state and territory funding grew by only 9.4 per cent over the same period.
Those on the other side are often keen to talk about funding for individual schools. So I took the opportunity to have a look at the funding for the electorate of Sydney. The electorate of Sydney has 23 government schools with 6,664 students and four Catholic schools and 13 independent schools—totalling 40 schools with 14,072 students.
I looked at the government school statistics for each school and at what the total Commonwealth funding over the period 2018 to 2027 was. For the government sector, Ultimo Public School receives $8,402,600, Conservatorium High School receives $5,917,700, Darlington Public School receives $7,229,700, and Burke Street Public School receives $9,812,200.
Mr Tudge: They sound like increases.
Mrs ANDREWS: It is actually a $2,324,200 increase for Burke Street Public School. Crown Street Public School receives $7,858,900—that is a $1,860,900 increase; Darlinghurst Public School receives $8,474,300; Plunkett Street Public School receives $1,793,400; Gardeners Road Public School receives $10,399,200; Forest Lodge Public School receives $8,817,600; Alexandria Park Community School receives $22,583,500; Newtown High School of the Performing Arts receives $35,112,800; Glebe Public School receives $7,439,300; Australia Street Infants School receives $3,939,700; Newtown North Public School receives $7,428,900; Newtown Public School receives $11,064,700; Erskineville Public School receives $9,986,800; Lord Howe Island Central School receives $2,189,800, which is actually within that sector; Bridge Road School receives $3,156,500; Sydney Distance Education Primary School, based in Surrey Hills, receives $8,026,800; Sydney Distance Education High School receives $18,120,000; Fort Street Public School receives $5,253,200; Cleveland Street Intensive English High School receives $8,647,400 and Green Square School receives $2,956,300.
All of those schools will have significant increases in their school funding as a result of the reforms that this government has put forward in the education sector in schools. Many people have raised concerns in the past and have indicated that this government does not have the ability to pass legislation through the Senate, but that is not true because we have been able to pass quite contentious legislation through the Senate.
I am very confident that the schools reform package that we have put to the parliament will be passed in the House and also by the Senate. I am confident about that because I am confident that the crossbench will understand that the schools are going to be better off under the proposals that we have put forward. Once we have resolved the funding issues we can then move forward and discuss the issues of quality education and ensure that every dollar that we put into our schools is well spent and results in a significant high-quality-outcome education for our students.
We on this side of the House have said many times, and the coalition government has been very clear, that we are focused on a quality education outcome for all students across Australia. The proposal that has been put together by the minister has been well received throughout very large sections of our community, and particularly throughout the education sector. There is endorsement after endorsement that we have been able to put forward.
Mr Husic: You're cutting everything! You cut schools, TAFE and universities!
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Coulton ): The member for Chifley has already been warned!
Mrs ANDREWS: The last time education was discussed in the MPI, I was able to make very clear the high number of endorsements that we had received and I read those onto the transcript.
Unfortunately, I did not have time to conclude my list. There were multiple endorsements that I could have read out but time did not enable me to do that.
But I am happy to continue, because I am very sure that those opposite will put up another MPI and totally ignore the vocational education sector.