2025-01-22
A family with two kids in a public school would be almost $2,500 better off every year under the Greens plan to make public schools truly free, and also provide $800 ‘back to school’ payments to parents.
With a minority Parliament looming and the Greens holding three seats in inner-city Brisbane, the announcement is the latest in the series of the Greens’ ‘Robin Hood reforms’ that will be put on the table in any post-election negotiations.
Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP will make the announcement today at Coorparoo State School in the electorate of Griffith, alongside Greens spokesperson for Primary & Secondary Education Senator Penny Allman-Payne and Griffith MP Max Chandler-Mather.
The bold cost-of-living package would see an annual payment of $800 made to families at the start of the school year for each child attending a public school, helping to meet growing out-of-pocket costs like uniforms, technology and school supplies.
And in order to abolish public school fees and charges and help reverse the cost-shifting that has occurred under Labor and Liberal governments, additional funding of $2.4 billion over the forward estimates will be given to public schools. This is on top of the 100% Schooling Resource Standard funding commitment previously announced.
Public school fees, charges and contributions rose 20.58% from 2021 to 2022, and school supplies are set to cost an estimated $694 for primary school children and $1,149 for secondary students.
This massive cash boost for working families would be funded by making big corporations pay their fair share of tax. The previously announced Big Corporations Tax frees up $514 billion across the decade to help fund dental & mental health into Medicare, a cap on rent increases & low-rate mortgages, and the Greens’ plan to see the GP for free.
Comments attributable to Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP:
“In a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to afford the basics: a home, food, and world class health and education.
“Parents are forking out thousands on ‘voluntary’ fees, uniforms and out of pocket costs, but meanwhile 1 in 3 big corporations pays no tax.
“Governments are underfunding our public schools and shifting the costs onto parents already struggling with the cost of living.
“We can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. If Brisbane voters return their Greens MPs, they can keep Peter Dutton out and get Labor to act on the cost of living crisis.
“When a nurse pays more tax than a multinational corporation, something is wrong. Taxing the big corporations to fully fund our public schools, scrapping so-called ‘voluntary’ fees and securing back to school payments will be on the table in a minority Parliament.
“In the last shared power Parliament, the Greens saved families thousands by getting dental into Medicare for kids, and now we want more relief for people doing it tough.”
Comments attributable to Greens spokesperson on primary and secondary education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“Public school should be free, but families are having to dig deeper and deeper as fees have increased and the cost of uniforms, school supplies and education technology has soared.
“The situation is so bad that teachers are increasingly having to dip into their own pockets to pay for classroom basics that many families simply can’t afford.
“When I was a teacher I regularly spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of my own salary to give my students the resources they needed, and I know parents do the same.
“Every child deserves a free, world-class public education, and that’s what the Greens are committed to delivering.
“Getting your child ready for the school year is always a hassle, but it shouldn’t cost thousands of dollars, and our public schools shouldn’t need to rely on the generosity of parents.
“Public schools typically get more than $400 from parents for each student enrolled - not because they want to charge fees, but because they aren’t adequately funded.
“World-class public education is the foundation of a strong and caring society, and it should be accessible to everyone.”
Comments attributable to Greens MP for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather:
“Families in my electorate of Griffith paid over $14 million in public school fees and charges in 2023. That’s about $500 per child.
“At a school like Balmoral State High School, parents paid nearly $1,500 in fees per student. At Whites Hill State College it was over $2,000. That’s not the fault of the schools but of systemic underfunding from our governments.
“Familes here care deeply about their local public schools, but at the moment it’s getting harder and harder to afford even a public education.
“Why is it in a wealthy country like Australia, we let 1 in 3 big corporations get away with paying no tax, but we can’t even provide free public education? Getting your child ready for the school year is always a hassle, but it shouldn’t cost thousands of dollars.”