2025-01-24
Comments attributable to Greens spokesperson on Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“This is a welcome step forward on public school funding that teachers, parents and carers in Victoria and South Australia will take heart from.
“Pressure works. Teacher unions and the Greens have been pushing Labor to increase the Commonwealth share of public school funding to 25% and to eliminate the dodgy loophole that allows states to claim 4% in non-classroom costs as part of their contribution.
“We’ll look at the details in the coming days but it appears that despite these steps forward we are still a decade away from 100% minimum funding for all public schools in the country.
“Labor came to government promising to deliver 100% funding to all public schools. If they’re saying that every public school in the country will be receiving 100% of its minimum funding by 2034, that will have been a quarter of a century since Gonski.
“That’s two entire generations of schoolkids who will have never known what it’s like to attend a properly resourced public school.
“The Greens have a fully costed plan to deliver 100% funding to all public schools in the country by July 2025, and we’ll also ease cost of living pressures on families by eliminating school fees and providing families with $800 back-to-school payments for every child in public school.”