Page 1748 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2011
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Australian families choice and reflects current trends while resourcing a strong and responsive public education system.
The Canberra Liberals have had much to say about the Greens and our education policies, and I state here today that the Greens’ policies are longstanding and well known. We believe in a system that is just, that is based on equity and that is accessible to all. We note the choices that families across the ACT are making regarding Catholic and independent schools and will respond to this as the outcomes of the Gonski review are known.
I note that Mr Doszpot is calling on the government to provide information regarding funding. The revision of the My School website released only a couple of months ago provides financial information on all schools. In fact it was a little bit controversial in some sectors.
On a quick glance, I selected three schools quite randomly: St John Vianney’s in Weston, Aranda primary and Canberra Girls Grammar. I found that the per student net recurrent income was $8,288 for St John Vianney’s, $9,743 for Aranda primary and $17,803 for Canberra Girls Grammar. I am unsure of what this means, and I do not know that these figures actually impact on the quality of education or teaching staff at any of these schools or any others, for that matter. I do note a considerable difference in the funding per student, and we would certainly draw conclusions regarding that.
My point is that this information is available, and I would urge Mr Doszpot to have a look at that but also to understand that part of the reason why we are supporting Mr Barr’s amendment is that it is already publicly available.
The Greens will not be supporting all of the Liberals’ motion today. We will be, as I said, supporting Mr Barr’s amendment. We believe that the national review must run its course. I note that Dr Dan White, executive director of Sydney’s Catholic schools, recently stated:
Equity excellence and choice should be the guiding principles for the way governments—both state and federal—fund schools, not a particular ideology.
The Greens acknowledge that this is a very important point. This is in fact why there are so many challenges before the Gonski review and why the horse-trading and demands in Mr Doszpot’s motion are not, I guess, helpful at this stage and are probably are, as I said, a little pre-emptive.
The Greens have shown support for, and will continue to support, education choice, including that of Catholic schools. We understand the needs of the local community and that a considerable number of Canberra families choose Catholic and independent education. As I have stated, the responsiveness of Catholic education to the needs of growing communities, especially the new school that will be built in Gungahlin, is to be welcomed.
Today the Greens will be supporting the amendment, as I said, put forward by Minister Barr, and we are doing this because we believe that the govemment has put
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