Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Education system

Jess WILSON (Kew) (14:15): My question is to the Premier. The government’s secret decision to cut $2.4 billion from public schools means that Victorians will now lag three years behind Queensland and six years behind New South Wales in adopting the Gonski reforms. Why is the Premier cutting billions of dollars from public schools?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:16): I thank the member for Kew for her question because it gives me the opportunity to be absolutely clear about my government’s commitment to public education. It is only Labor governments that invest in public education. This might be a record from the member for Kew, who up until this point has only ever asked about private schools in Kew. She has only ever asked questions in this place about private schools in Kew.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, it was a very narrow question to the Premier about cutting $2.4 billion from state schools. I would ask you to ask the Premier to come back to that question instead of attacking the opposition.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, there is no point of order. The Premier was being entirely relevant to the question. It did ask about the funding of government schools, and the Premier was taking the opportunity to update the house on our government’s ongoing commitment to public education.

The SPEAKER: Order! I remind the Premier not to attack the opposition and to come back to answering the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I will remind the house of the fact that this government, our government, has made the biggest increase of any state or territory to government school funding – 34 per cent. Then you can also consider the $17 billion that we have invested in new school buildings. We have made this investment because as Premier I support our teachers and staff. We support them to have the buildings and the facilities, and also, importantly, we support students to have access to those critically important wellbeing services that are offered in government schools, because we have invested in nurses, in doctors, in Glasses for Kids and in mental health support staff for students in government schools. I say –

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question. I would ask you to ask her to come back to the very narrow question of cutting funds to state schools.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, there is no point of order. The Premier continued to be relevant in her answer. She is not debating the question, she is getting on with informing the house of our government’s commitment to fund government schools in this state.

Sam Groth: Speaker, further to the point of order, the question related to recurrent funding and the Gonski report, not capital funding, to which the Premier was referring.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will come to order. It was a very narrow question. The Premier was being relevant, but I do remind the Premier that it was a very narrow question.

Jacinta ALLAN: For the benefit of the member for Nepean, that 34 per cent increase I was talking about is exactly the recurrent funding that is going into government schools. I am delighted that the member for Nepean has been swotting up over the break, reading the budget papers. Maybe the member for Brighton has been giving him a bit of a helping hand on going through the budget papers and getting ready for his big day next Tuesday.

But what I was also going to, in terms of answering the question from the member for Kew, is the support that we give to teachers, to buildings but also, importantly, to students around what goes on in government schools. I say this as Premier and I also say this absolutely clearly as a parent who sends her kids to government schools: I see firsthand every single day what a good, strong government education provides for students. Regardless of who they are, regardless of the wealth of the family that they come from and regardless of their background, they know in Victoria they can get a good government education, because we back them and so too does the Albanese Labor government, which is why we are working with them right now on that outcome that has been driven for a number of years to get our government schools fully resourced, and that is because we are committed to government schools. I am committed to them as a parent and I am committed to them as the Premier. We will continue to back and invest in our great government education system here in Victoria.

Jess WILSON (Kew) (14:21): Does the Minister for Education speak for the government when he says that this $2.4 billion cut to schools will damage Victoria’s reputation and embed Victoria’s status as Australia’s lowest funder of students at public schools?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:21): Again, this is a pattern of behaviour from the Leader of the Opposition. I did not think it was a pattern of behaviour we would see from the member for Kew – coming in and absolutely putting misleading statements to the house. I will tell you what I, the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and every single one of the members of this government will do: we will back our government schools. I know this is a tough concept for the member for Kew, because Liberal governments cut funding to government schools. They cut Fresh Fruit Friday. They cut the education maintenance allowance. They did not invest in building new schools, which meant we had not enough schools being opened from their time in government.

Jess Wilson: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the Premier is debating the question. It was a very narrow question about whether the Minister for Education speaks for the government when he says this is going to damage Victoria’s reputation.

The SPEAKER: I believe the Premier had already responded to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I will say this: we will continue to invest. We will continue to invest in government schools and we will continue to invest in those frontline services because we back our government school system, we back our teachers and we back our staff. I thank them for the work they do every single day.