Australian Greens: Labor’s private school cash splash a Morrison throwback

Labor’s budget has failed the public schools test, committing even more to private schools than the Morrison Government pledged in its March budget, the Greens say.

The Albanese Government has promised private schools $70.2 billion over the forward estimates, $1.7 billion more than Scott Morrison guaranteed in his pre-election budget. The private school sector will now receive an even greater share of Commonwealth funding under Labor than it would have under the Coalition.

Greens spokesperson on schools, Queensland Senator Penny Allman-Payne, will today move a disallowance motion to block an increase in the size of the Capital Grants Program, a Commonwealth capital works fund exclusively available to private schools.

Quotes attributable to Greens spokesperson on schools, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:

“This is a schools budget the Liberal Party would have been proud of.

“As a proportion of total funding, private school funding is actually growing, moving public schools even further away from reaching 100% of the minimum Schooling Resource Standard.

“This budget indicates that the Albanese Government is either ignorant of growing school inequality, or it just doesn’t care. A stronger commitment to public school funding would have helped Labor tackle the cost of living crisis, teacher shortages and declining student performance.

“While elite schools are building extra boat sheds and plunge pools for their headmasters, public schools in my own region of Central Queensland, and across the country, are struggling to attract and retain teachers and meet the needs of their students.

“Labor had an opportunity to undo a decade of conservative damage to the education system by winding back government support for the private sector and investing in the public system. Instead we got the kind of budget you’d expect from Scott Morrison.

“With negotiations on the next National Schools Reform Agreement beginning soon the Greens will be pushing to ensure that all public schools receive at least 100% of their Schooling Resource Standard by the end of the agreement, and we’ll continue to fight for public money for public schools.”