Page 3124 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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We in the Canberra Liberals do not condemn non-government schools. We commend the contribution they make. We know that if non-government schools were not there, in fact there would be far more pressure on the government sector and the government sector would almost certainly lack resources because it would be taking on a much greater load. We respect the right of parents to make those choices, whether they go to their good, local, government primary school or high school or whether they choose to send their kids to a very good non-government primary school or high school or college.
I did want to say a few things about some of those very good non-government schools as well, such as St Francis, St Claire of Assisi in Conder, or Holy Family, which is one of the bigger schools in the valley. I am being told by my deputy that I should push on. I thank him for his support. We have got Holy Family, which does such a great job in the Tuggeranong Valley and educates so many kids. We have got Marist college, St Thomas the Apostle, my old primary school and one of my favourites there in Kambah, St Anthony’s in Wanniassa, which I visited recently. Indeed, I visited St Thomas for an opening, and I visited St Anthony’s, which I have done over the last few years, to talk to the students there. In fact Mr Smyth and I went there for a separate function as well. St Anthony’s is another great school.
We have got MacKillop, my old school. Michael Lee is doing such a sensational job and is a recruiting genius. He is growing that school in a very positive way. I think that his legacy will be a very solid one there. Likewise, we have got Sacred Heart in Pearce and many other schools.
I want to pay tribute to the teachers in our non-government system as well, because they often deal with a lot of challenging issues. I know that they are crying out for resources when it comes to kids with special needs. I know that there is a real funding disparity there. In fact, I was talking with constituents just this last week, and they have a daughter with special needs. She is at Mother Theresa’s. And they feel that Mother Theresa’s does a great job looking after those children but they are aware, I think, of just how stretched many of these schools are in dealing particularly with kids with special needs.
So the funding of non-government schools is an issue. Non-government schools in the ACT are underfunded, in our estimation. They educate well over 40 per cent of our students now. In the high school sector, they educate just a little over half now. That is not really recognised in funding. The 2011 Productivity Commission report notes that recurrent expenditure per student in government schools in the ACT is around $17,400, and the figure for non-government schools is approximately $5,979. And if we drill down on that, I think about $1,600 is the contribution from the ACT government per student to non-government schools.
We are the only party in this place that genuinely believes in both sectors. We want to see both of them thrive. We want to give parents that choice. We want to support those school communities. Good school communities, we want to see thrive. We do not particularly mind if those good school communities are a Catholic school, are an independent school or a government school. We happen to believe that they all bring something very solid.
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