Warrandyte electorate
Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (14:53): (1184) My constituency question is to the Treasurer. When will the Allan Labor government scrap its unfair and punishing schools tax? Labor’s schools tax, introduced in 2023, is a cash grab that punishes families choosing non-government schools by applying payroll tax to schools that were previously exempt. This is far from a fringe issue, because in the electorate of Warrandyte around 31 per cent of students attend Catholic or independent schools, rising to 52 per cent among secondary students. Whitefriars College in Donvale is one of those local schools now facing this tax. Principal Mark Murphy tells me the school is about to cross the payroll threshold and will be slugged with a $1 million annual tax bill, forcing fee increases of nearly $1000 per student and punishing hardworking families for their educational choice. The Liberals and Nationals will scrap this unfair tax, and I urge the Labor government to do the same.