Page 3615 - Week 08 - Friday, 24 August 2012
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that fairness in funding, transparency in funding, that funding to those most in need are what we need to deal with the complex, opaque and completely unfair system that we have now. But, of course, Mr Piccoli is a Nat, so he probably did not go to the Tony Abbott school of politics.
Let me reiterate what the Prime Minister said most recently. She said, “No school will lose money.” Let me repeat that: “No school will lose money.” She said, in fact, that funding for every school, government, independent and Catholic, will continue to rise under the federal plan for school improvement. And she said, “We have always said no school will lose a dollar for funding per student,” and that is what they will deliver. And not only that, she has also committed that there will be more funding for schools, more funding for ACT schools, more funding for ACT government schools, more funding for ACT independent schools, more funding for ACT Catholic schools.
Mr Doszpot cannot listen, does not listen, does not want to listen, does not want to know because it does not fit within his political paradigm that he has learned at the chalkboard of the Tony Abbott school of politics.
Let me return to the portfolio. The ACT has the highest levels of educational attainment in Australia, and we continue to commit to record levels of funding. This budget invests $909 million in education and training. It continues our investment in state-of-the-art school facilities. We will fund the operations of the Bonner primary and Franklin early childhood schools, at a cost of almost $12 million. The government has also committed $12.9 million towards the restoration of Taylor primary school, and I thank the Greens for their kind words endorsing the actions of the government and the Education and Training Directorate in the communication provided to the Taylor school community in regard to this matter.
Also, $2.8 million over the next two years has been allocated to provide classrooms at Duffy primary school for the new residents of Molonglo and North Weston, and $500,000 has been provided to coordinate and deliver further maintenance and repair work in public schools. In the 2012-13 ACT budget we are continuing to support ACT public schools to move towards carbon neutrality, with $3.5 million committed to stage 1 of the carbon neutral schools project.
We will continue to implement excellence and enterprise, our blueprint for high school education. Under the excellence and enterprise initiative, $125,000 will be provided over four years to engage students in challenging learning opportunities which draw on the latest interactive technologies and digital media. The government continue to promote a culture of excellence in teaching so that we can deliver the highest possible standards in our schools and attract and retain the very best teachers in the country.
The government believe that quality teaching is the single most important thing affecting a child’s education and that our teachers should be rewarded. In 2011, the government established the Teacher Quality Institute, and this budget commits $2.9 million in additional funding to support the role the institute plays in ensuring that we have quality teachers in schools, both government and non-government.
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