Motions
State budget—Education spending
Motion
Mr Liam Staltari (Carine) (4:00 pm): I move:
That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for prioritising its pet projects over delivering the world-class education system that Western Australians deserve.
I rise today to speak in support of this motion and to call out the Cook Labor government's misplaced priorities, as laid bare in the latest state budget. I will quickly thank the Attorney General, the former minister. I am sad to hear that the Minister for Education is unwell. I know we all wish her a speedy recovery. Thank you to the Attorney General for joining us for the debate.
Mr Peter Rundle: He knows a few things about education.
Mr Liam Staltari: The government Whip warned me not to rile him up, and I am going to do my best. We will see how we go.
I think we on this side would say it has become a hallmark of this government that pet projects too often crowd out essential services on a range of fronts. The party that claims to be the party of schools and hospitals runs a government that is in fact a government of racetracks, rugby teams and rolling pet project blowouts. Eight years into this government, Western Australians pay more tax and the state is in more debt—despite what one would think from what the government says—yet many of our essential services are at breaking point. It is sad to say that too often this is the case in education.
In my contribution to the debate, I will set the scene and outline why we on this side are so passionate about this issue. I will speak to some of the stark statistics and on-the-ground experiences that are bubbling up from an education system that is staffed by amazing people but that is increasingly under strain. I look forward to the subsequent contributions of my colleagues, beginning with the member for Roe, who I know share these concerns. They will speak broadly about the sector. I know many of them will speak about schools in their communities. We ask that this government dispense with its obsession with pet projects and begin delivering the world-class education system that every Western Australian deserves.
Why do we care? As I said in my inaugural speech, I think all of us, on all sides, should aspire to live in a state in which every child can achieve their full potential for their own good and for the betterment of our wider community. Central to that is a world-class education system. It is why the Liberals and Nationals want every child in WA to have access to quality education that lets them get ahead in life and achieve success, whatever their circumstances. Whether a person lives in Carine, Cunderdin—the member for Central Wheatbelt's electorate—or anywhere else, their future prospects should not be determined by geography.
Dr Tony Buti: They have a great agricultural school.
Mr Liam Staltari: They certainly do, indeed. Thank you, Attorney General. By the same token, we want every teacher and educator to be safe, fairly paid, valued at work and able to get on with what they wanted to do, which is teach, not complete endless and mounting paperwork. As I said in my inaugural speech, we also, on this side in particular, want every parent to have genuine choice in the type of school they know is best for their kids.
We do not just say it. We lived it in the last Liberal–National government. Noting the previous debate, I will say I am very proud to talk of the last Liberal–National government's record on education. Members will hear me cite it often in the years ahead. Let us quickly do a whistle-stop tour of that record for a compare and contrast. We inherited from Labor the lowest paid public school teachers in the nation, and we elevated them to the highest. We inherited rolling teacher shortages through the Gallop and Carpenter governments and we plugged that gap. We inherited per capita school investment that was middle of the pack across the Commonwealth, and we raised it again to the highest in the nation, a massive 41% uplift over the term. In the process, we built 32 new primary schools, nine new secondary schools and 15 replacement schools; those outstanding schools in a range of electorates represented in this chamber still operate today. In complement to that, we implemented and radically expanded the independent public school system. Hundreds of proud independent public schools operate today. People will see a proud independent public school sign across so many campuses across WA. What we take heart from in that record is that parents and school communities voted with their feet. IPS uptake was massive. Over the term of the last Liberal–National government, the proportion of students who enrolled in public schools actually increased. In other words, the slice of the pie that public schools comprised increased. People vote with their feet. That is a vote of confidence in the public schooling system over that term. I regret to note that, as was confirmed in a media article two months ago, over the last five years, that trend has reversed.
I mention all that because it is an example of what eight years of committed investment in education can deliver, which I would say is eight years, in the theme of this motion, of right priorities. We look at the state of the sector today. Eight years into this government, what do we have? One, escalating teacher and principal burnout and resignation. Two, record levels of school violence and extreme bad behaviour. Three, concerningly, missed targets in literacy and numeracy, the building skills of the next generation. Four, as has become very clear only in the last two months, classroom overcrowding, particularly in primary schools in some of Perth's most vulnerable communities. Any one of these on its own would be a cause for concern, but all four today are live wires.
My colleagues will speak to these in detail, but I will go through them briefly now. To the first: when we talk about our teachers, we all agree here—and we mean it on all sides—that our teachers do an amazing job. You ask a teacher, and they will tell you it is not a job but a vocation. I know the Attorney General was a teacher and he will share that sentiment. One thing I have enjoyed since taking on the shadow education role is connecting with so many of the teachers and public and independent school communities across WA. Too many teachers now are turning away or weighing up turning away. It is not for a lack of passion. It is not for a lack of belief in the transformative power of teaching; that is what motivated so many of them to join. It is because they are at their wit's end. We see it in the numbers.
The Leader of the Opposition noted in his budget reply that in the last five years, the number of public school teachers who have resigned has more than doubled, from 604 to over 1,200 last year. I note that, concerningly, new data shows that 659 teachers across our schools resigned just last term, term 1, at the start of a fresh school year. The State School Teachers' Union of WA rightly notes that 61% of teachers quit before they reach the age of 30. What does that tell us? It tells us that, unfortunately, on this government's watch, we are losing so much of the talented pipeline of future teachers who should be given confidence that they have made a wonderful career choice, but they are too often being driven out. I know my colleagues will touch on the other survey data that shows that more than eight in 10 teachers have considered quitting in the last four years. The minister is away today. It is regularly said that education is in Labor's DNA, but when I hear that, I always reflect that it must be curious DNA. What DNA leads Labor to lump our teachers with the lowest pay in the nation, as was the case under the last Labor government, or to accept the rolling teacher shortages that helped precipitate it, or to preside over this appalling spike in burnout, stress and resignations over the last few years?
If we look to the disturbing increase in school violence, I think, again, we start from a point of agreement. Every teacher, every student and every parent deserves to be safe in our schools. But sadly, under this government, violence and extreme bad behaviour are at record highs, and we see that in different surveys, like the Australian Catholic University's annual survey and the SSTUWA's WA State of our Schools Survey, released just a few weeks ago. The figures reveal that 60% of WA principals and deputies have been shoved, bitten or kicked in the past year, more than half of teachers have personally experienced verbal abuse, and 27% have experienced physical violence at least once in the school year. We know schools are a mirror of society, and society, with all of its challenges, is more complex than ever. There is of course a crucial role for parents, and there is a role for the wider community as well. Ultimately, particularly our government public schools, these are workplaces for dedicated public servants and for children. In no workplace would that risk be acceptable, let alone in workplaces that are meant to be a safe space. Our teachers are asked to manage extreme bad behaviour, too often without the training, resources and support, or the sense of support, that they deserve. It is a danger to their wellbeing, which comes through in the data. It also disrupts learning environments for every child in the classroom. Too often, teachers who signed up to teach, empower, educate and inspire are breaking up fights and de-escalating violent episodes. We have heard a lot of talk from the government on fixing this, in strategies and programs and glossy documents. We need them to back our teachers and principals and at the same time invest more in alternative learning settings and diversionary programs for at-risk youth.
If we touch on infrastructure, and I know the member for Nedlands will touch on this later, too many schools are now bursting at the seams. The government's failure to plan for population growth has created far too many overcrowded schools. Some stark figures recently revealed that 19 primary schools across Western Australia now have more than 800 students. These are primary schools, not high schools. That is nearly double their intended size. Ten of those schools have over 20 transportable classrooms each. As was mentioned by several previous speakers in recent days, we have ovals littered with transportables and temporary classrooms. In some schools, libraries and other temporary arrangements are being turned into makeshift classrooms. There are lots of facts and tidbits in the budget. I look forward to exploring some in the estimates hearings, but one stood out. The government spent $102 million on transportables in 2024–25, a blowout beyond its initial projections of $34.8 million. There was nearly $35 million of unanticipated blowout spending on transportables. What does that tell us? It is a concession that the government is playing catch-up on classroom accommodation. Of course transportable classrooms play a key role when we have to have a bandaid solution, but they are not the work environment that a teacher will want for the long term and they are certainly not a learning environment conducive to what we know is best practice. I mention all of these because, as with anything, they lead to the outcomes, and it is the outcomes that we see that really matter.
Some of the most concerning failures come to light here on this government's watch. Too many Western Australian students are now falling behind in literacy and numeracy, with NAPLAN results showing a consistent and troubling downward trend. Most starkly, nearly one in three WA students lack the basic literacy and numeracy skills expected of their age. We have to pause to think about that because what does it really mean, beyond the data? One in three. It does not just mean that one in three students did not do well on a particular test; it is a window into one in three students being at risk of having their aspirations, their future economic opportunities and their ability to self-actualise being crimped by a system that too often, for lack of support, is letting them down. We saw this reconfirmed last week in the government's own budget KPIs. Based on the targets set in last year's budget, the latest results show the government has failed to meet its own benchmarks for student performance in both reading and numeracy—those two key pillars again—across which years? It is years 3, 5 and 7. In fact, those outcomes reveal a trend of decline compared with the year before, specifically if we list year 3 numeracy, year 5 reading and numeracy, and year 7 reading and numeracy, confirming an ongoing and concerning trend. We know the sector is struggling. We know the peak bodies are crying out for support. We know the government is finding it harder to suggest, as it does in health and other services, that actually everything is fine; this is a government that can walk and chew gum.
What does the government choose to put up in lights through the election campaign and proudly trumpet now? It is $220 million for a racetrack. The member for Mid-West has stepped out but he mentioned in his contribution yesterday that sometimes issues jump off the page and really capture public imagination. I can absolutely say that I have constituents in Carine who raised the racetrack with me. I hold a monthly community catch-up. I held one in Carine—
Mr Basil Zempilas: No-one wants it! No-one!
Mr Liam Staltari: That is right, Leader of the Opposition. I will take that spirited interjection from the Leader of the Opposition.
I had a coffee catch-up in Carine this past weekend and, unprompted, people raised the racetrack, agnostic about whether they support motorsport. Why? It is because it encapsulates their sense of what is wrong with this government's priorities.
I have a feeling, and the Leader of the Opposition noted this as well, that deep down, more members than you would think on the other side share this concern. They will not admit it, but I think they have enough political good sense to know that this racetrack turned amphitheatre turned whatever it will be next week is not actually the political winner the Treasurer thought it would be, particularly in light of this budget and what it imposes on families.
Let us look at it as an opportunity cost; $220 million on a racetrack that is funded and racing ahead. That is a lot of classrooms instead of transportables. That is plenty more education assistants to assist with students with complex needs, which of course the sector has cried out about for years. It is particularly stark when I juxtapose that cost—nearly quarter of a billion taxpayer dollars—against many of the sneaky, needless cuts the government has hidden in this budget. For $220 million, you could very comfortably fund the government's cut to free pool entry for VacSwim 220 times over. You could fund the government's KidSport cuts 11 times over, but, no, the government is happy to quietly get rid of those programs or curtail them. There was no consultation or Post-It notes for that. It is just cracking ahead. I thought it was pretty remarkable for the Treasurer to trumpet KidSport in her speech last Thursday, but not take a moment to let many of those same families know that the government has actually cut that funding quite significantly. I want to linger on this because it has weighed on my mind. I do wonder who looked at VacSwim, an amazing, well-loved program that has been in the community for many decades, and KidSport. They deliver very modest savings in the context of this budget, certainly compared with $13 billion of blowouts or the racetrack. They thought: "Never mind those; we will cut here. This is what we will cut." It was not the racetrack or the rugby deal that was cut, but it was these programs.
I will take a different tack on the topic of priorities. This budget was lauded as the "election commitment budget". Let me put that to the test. It rightly promised millions for school redevelopments, which was a very well deserved and important commitment. It included Como Secondary College. The member for South Perth is here; I like and respect him. Obviously, Como Secondary College was a big commitment. There was the rebuild of Karrinyup Primary School as well. We have to ask: Where is the funding in the budget? I refer not to the millions and millions of dollars trumpeted during the weeks of the election campaign. It is a fraction of the promised funds. For planning, sure, but with nothing beyond that in the budget papers, we are at risk of putting these programs into the long grass. People have to wait for that funding. They have to wait with quite a lot of uncertainty about when their school will be upgraded. But the racetrack is fully funded this year; it is coming up and arriving at speed.
I will take this opportunity to raise a question that I look forward to exploring through estimates as well. The budget papers suggest a reduction in the funding provision for student allowances from around $12 million in the 2024–25 actuals to just $6 million in this budget year. We can only speculate, but is it another sneaky, silent, unmentioned cut that did not make the media release or the Treasurer's speech? Perhaps it is a cut of the clothing allowance, another hit to families and students on top of the cuts to VacSwim and KidSport. We will certainly be exploring that to understand exactly where that money has gone.
I will now wrap up. The Cook Labor government's budget is more than just a missed opportunity, as the Leader of the Opposition said. Sadly, it is the confirmation of a trend. Western Australia, as we know, is one of the richest states in the richest countries in the world, and we should be leading the nation in education, attracting and retaining more great teachers and giving them confidence in their excellent career choice, lifting outcomes for our students and creating safe, modern learning environments—but instead, sadly, this government is presiding over a surge in teacher resignations, rising school violence, declining academic results and a growing bandaid addiction to temporary classrooms and transportables. Our teachers and principals deserve better. Our parents and students expect better and our state with all its resources can absolutely do better, but only if we get our priorities right. This government stands condemned for missing that moment. It is for that reason that I commend the motion to the house and look forward to the contribution of the member for Roe.
Mr Peter Rundle (Roe) (4:18 pm): Thank you very much for the call, Acting Speaker.
Dr Tony Buti: It's like old times, member for Roe, isn't it!
Mr Peter Rundle: I very much look forward to putting my contribution to the former Minister for Education, my old sparring partner! Of course, I certainly support the motion:
That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for prioritising its pet projects over delivering the world-class education system that Western Australians deserve.
As I said, I am glad to have the former Minister for Education responding here today because he was the minister who presided over the first teachers' strike in the last 12 or 13 years. I think it was the first strike since 2013. We saw thousands of teachers marching over Matagarup Bridge into Gloucester Park demanding that this minister do something about a number of issues, whether it was their pay, school violence, burnout—the list goes on.
It certainly gives me a good opportunity to talk today. As the member for Carine outlined, the $217 million racetrack—a pet project—is an indictment on this government. I feel sorry for members opposite because they have to sit quietly, say nothing and pretend that they support it. I think one government member has spoken about the $217 million racetrack and pretended to support it at the expense of all these other opportunities. It is good to see the member for South Perth in the chamber; he was at the front of Como Secondary College with the former Minister for Education and the Premier—if you do not mind, Leader of the Opposition—using the school's students to promote the Labor Party's $30 million election commitment, which is very unusual practice. I do not know whether the parents of those Como students were informed that their sons and daughters were going to be used for an election stunt.
Dr Tony Buti interjected.
Mr Peter Rundle: Good to hear, minister.
Of course, during the federal election we had the unexpected arrival of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a school in Winthrop, at which there was a big rally. I can assure members that many of those parents were not informed that their children were going to be used in that manner. That developing trend is concerning. Nonetheless, I will get back to the history for some of our newer members. The former education minister who is here in the chamber certainly cannot take credit for what former Minister for Education Hon Sue Ellery did in shutting School of the Air, closing residential colleges in Moora and Northam, axing six camp school sites, stripping funding from Landsdale Farm School and doubling VacSwim fees. To the credit of the previous Minister for Education, he sorted out some things with VacSwim, only to be let down this week by Minister McGurk saying that the beach is free—not a problem! The Labor government also cut 25% of funding for the gifted and talented program in 18 schools. The boarding away from allowance is one of the most important things for our isolated and regional students and families. The allowance was $2,300 a year, funded out of the Royalties for Regions program. Minister Ellery came in and dropped it down to $1,300, which was very upsetting. Of course, Minister Ellery decided that Perth Modern School would relocate to a high-rise building in the city centre. Kids from that school were in the gallery today. Luckily, the former federal Leader of the Labor Party, Hon Kim Beazley, and Malcolm McCusker KC and his wife Tonya stood on the front steps of Parliament House to protest that decision and their support helped turn that decision around. Premier McGowan and Hon Sue Ellery thought they could come in and slash and burn and that the people of Western Australia would sit back and take it. They certainly did not when it came to decisions about School of the Air and the like.
I will move on. As the member for Carine pointed out, there is a real issue with teacher burnout and resignations. In just three years, 5,200 teachers have left the profession; indeed, 1,200 public school teachers resigned in 2024, with nearly 20% of those citing high levels of stress and the resulting burnout as a key reason for their resignation. As it was outlined in Facing the Facts: A review of Public Education in Western Australia, Carmen Lawrence's report for the State School Teachers' Union of WA, 25% of new graduates leave the profession within five years. Another concerning feature is the use of limited registration teachers. The minister knows that I have been talking about this issue over the last few years. The Department of Education is providing limited authority for people who are partly qualified to teach, and this is happening in large numbers. The number of limited registration teachers in the workforce increased by more than 125% between 2021 and 2024. There were more than 1,700 limited registration teachers in the system in 2024. As we know, limited registration teachers require additional support, but many schools are understaffed and they are left to struggle, which is a challenge.
I refer to the State School Teachers' Union of WA survey report. The minister knows that I like referring to the State School Teachers' Union and many other unions. I give credit to Matt Jarman and his team at the State School Teachers' Union because they have been proactive in the last two or three years with commissioning the Facing the Facts report by Hon Carmen Lawrence and her team.
Dr Tony Buti: She was your favourite Premier, wasn't she?
Mr Peter Rundle: Yes, that is right. I was there, as was the minister, for the release of the Facing the Facts report. Some very interesting topics came out of it, but the main issues that were outlined were a lack of support and concerns about the education system. I will come back to that in a minute. The report showed that 80% of survey respondents said that in the past four years, they had considered quitting because of their workload, 83% because of burnout and 70% due to a lack of respect for the teaching profession. During the last Parliament, both the Minister for Education and I spoke about the challenges faced by teachers. Our teachers do a great job, and they need to be respected. This government needs to turn this situation around. One of the things that the minister and I agree on is that parents should show teachers the respect they deserve. They are an integral part of the whole system. More than 30% of teachers surveyed said that they were not getting the promised extra support they would receive if they were teaching oversized classes. Those are some of the results from that survey. In the same survey, 76% of principals said that they had considered quitting in the past four years, with the biggest contributor being the workload and work–life balance; 60% of principals said that student services were understaffed, including psychologists, counsellors and youth workers; and 39% said they had experienced at least one incident of physical abuse from a student. One principal summed up their feelings by saying:
The volume of complex student behaviour and lack of external support is becoming unmanageable. Making everything an individual school problem to fix is a ridiculous approach. We need system leadership to support schools in a range of complex areas.
As the minister knows, my favourite subject when talking about school infrastructure is Esperance Senior High School.
Once again, I give the former Minister for Education credit for seeing that Esperance Senior High School needed a lot of work and redevelopment. An amount of $650,000 was in last year's budget. Unfortunately, that planning money is still sitting in the budget and there is absolutely nothing in the forward estimates. That is a problem for the families and students of Esperance. We have seen it develop. We saw it here in question time today when Albany Health Campus was raised. Coming up to the election, we were promised $60 million for extra beds in Albany Health Campus. What did we get? It was $1 million for planning and nothing in the forward estimates. I imagine the member for South Perth is also anxious in relation to Como Secondary College. Maybe he is not because he knows that metropolitan schools in Labor Party electorates are looked on favourably. Both the Como and Esperance schools were built around the same time. The students of those schools and their families need to be treated in the same way. That is what I ask of our former minister and our new minister, who was in Narrogin in the Wheatbelt a few days ago when we enjoyed a great breakfast that about 50 to 60 people attended hosted by the students of Narrogin Senior High School in their hilltop restaurant. It was great to see the students cooking breakfast out the back. It was good to have the Minister for Education there, who is also the Minister for Wheatbelt, and also go to the zone meeting to gain an understanding of some of the local issues.
In the short time I have left, I want to briefly talk about a couple of other things. I find it quite ironic when I look at Munglinup Primary School in my electorate. In April 2025, the Munglinup parents and citizens association requested a shade structure over the school's outdoor play equipment. The P&C was informed by the principal that that was not something the Department of Education would assist with, yet in February 2025, the previous Minister for Education announced "More shade for Cecil Andrews College!", stating:
Great news for Cecil Andrews College—A re-elected Cook Labor Government will provide funding for the purchase and installation of multiple shade sails across the school.
Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.
Mr Peter Rundle: Seriously, Leader of the Opposition, are regional students second-class citizens? That is what I want to know. Are the students of Munglinup second-class citizens? These are the questions that the people out there are asking. The thing that worries me about this government is that a city versus country divide has been created by this government. That divide extends to fishing, farming, forestry, firearms and now school shade sails. Regional people and regional students get treated on a different level. Members can understand why we have seen the excellent member for Geraldton elected. We can see why the excellent member for Warren–Blackwood was elected. It is because this government has created the city versus country divide.
The final question I want to ask the former Minister for Education is one that I was hoping to ask this week. He might be able to enlighten me and he might not. We might have to ask the new Minister for Education about the Regional Education Strategy: Strengthening public education in the regions, which was released last year, along with a nice photo of him. It states:
The Cook Government is committed to the children and young people of Western Australia …
In reference to our unique geography, it mentioned the clear blue beaches. Maybe he was referring to Esperance; I am not sure. There are a couple more things in the document but I want to refer to the part about delivering for our regional students. Funnily enough, it states:
Schools Of The Air also enable distance education for students living in isolated communities.
Despite the fact that the former minister, Hon Sue Ellery, tried to slash and burn that with former Premier Mark McGowan, now it is up here as part of the regional strategy. The document continues:
Regardless of location or context, all Western Australian students should have access to high quality education …
I agree with the minister on that one. The document also states:
This strategy will guide the future directions of public school education in regional settings. The current initiatives and new opportunities to deliver it are built on four pillars:
Pillar 1: Build the capability of our regional workforce
Pillar 2: Expand curriculum delivery
Pillar 3: Strengthen support for student wellbeing
Pillar 4: Develop partnerships to create opportunity
What happened? I know that people in the education department put a massive amount of work into it. I will not name names but I know that certain individuals put in a massive amount of work. People like Pip Gooding from my constituency in Dumbleyung made a very comprehensive draft submission, which states:
Thank you for the opportunity to have input into the Department of Education's Draft Regional Education Strategy. This opportunity is imperative for our rural, remote and regional communities to highlight what is vital for this document, to ensure our education system delivers the investment we need for our school infrastructure, educators, curricular and our students. Our schools are the fabric of our regional communities …
It is integral that the feedback provided throughout the state is listened to and implemented into this strategy to ensure our schools have the opportunity to deliver a first class education to all students …
I could not agree more with Pip Gooding, a high-quality member of the Dumbleyung community and very supportive of that community and that school.
I have a nice picture of the former Minister for Education, the current Attorney General, alongside the "Minister's message", which states:
The Cook Government is committed to the children and young people of Western Australia …
I ask him: Where is it? Where has it gone? What is the result? When is it being delivered or has it just been put back into the cupboard in the director general's office? I would love some details. I look forward to his response. My time is up.
Mr Jonathan Huston (Nedlands) (4:38 pm): I am speaking in support of the motion to condemn the Cook government's promotion of pet projects. In particular, I would like to remind the house of the nature of the Public Education Endowment Repeal Bill, which was a scandal in my opinion. I am very happy that that matter seems to have been removed from the agenda for the time being. How could it possibly be that a $36 million fund that had been there for over 100 years for the very purposes of education included a large parcel of land in Fremantle and I think about $7 million in cash, and the government would then find this asset sitting in a trust? Maybe it knew it was there all along. I can understand the concept of tidying up the balance sheet—that is okay—but to then decide to put that into the consolidated account is just not right.
As I said, imagine you are up there in a box looking through all your stuff and you are in the government, you see the balance sheet and you find a little jar that says, "Children's education: education endowment fund—for kids". What concerned us then most particularly was that there was just this sense—maybe the minister could address this in his reply, though of course he does not have to—that it was only $36 million. On the basis of a $50 billion budget, $36 million is just a rounding error. But it is not. The amount of $36 million is very material to over 800 schools in Western Australia, including those in my own electorate.
Debate interrupted.
(Continued at a later stage of the sitting.)
(Emergency evacuation alarm system activated.)
Sitting suspended from 4:40:08 pm to 5:01:15 pm
Mr Jonathan Huston: As I was saying, I had risen to speak in favour of the motion to condemn the Cook government's prioritisation of pet projects and was on the issue of the $36 million or $38 million public education endowment trust. The point I was making is that although we have no real problem with the fund itself being liquidated, because it seems like the entity no longer served its original purpose, our fundamental problem with it was the allocation of those funds. We think that if those funds were raised for public education, even though they have been in that trust for a very long it time, that is where they should have ended up. Even though it is $36 million, which, as I said, might sound like a small amount compared to the $50 billion budget, which is something I will talk about more in the next day or so, from the perspective of the many hundreds of schools in Western Australia, it is an extremely material amount of money. I will talk about my electorate of Nedlands in a moment. I also referred to this in the context of sandbagging, which is when the government has money from a windfall and puts that somewhere else to cancel out another expense that it has. I will talk more about sandbagging later. If that $36 million were divided amongst all the electorates, it would equate to about $600,000 or $700,000 per electorate. I say to each and every member, regardless of where they are in the state, that that is a very meaningful amount of money. I am sure that primary and secondary schools in each member's electorate would love to have a share of that money.
I have heard other members listing the financial benefits that their schools have received. There is a significant issue of justice. I have been walking around and visiting the public primary schools in Nedlands. The principals of those schools have told me that often they are treated in some ways by the department as if they are a semi-private school. That is from them, not me. When it comes time for them to go to the department for support, the feeling was unanimous—I am not saying that this is a reflection of the minister; I am just giving the minister feedback—that they feel they are treated as though they have a higher socio-economic index and therefore do not deserve to have more funding because there are more pressing needs. Surely one of the requirements we have is to treat all children equally, particularly children in the public system.
Members know that I doorknocked every street. Go down to Jolimont or Daglish. It is not Jutland Parade. They are very hardworking people on double incomes. They are making their way in the world just like anybody else and many of them are renting. Their children are in schools that need support just like any other. I go back to the core moral point that children, wherever they are in this state, should not pay a socio-economic penalty. The requirement should be the same—on an as-needs basis, which I understand. Members might be surprised to know that the parents of many students at schools in Subiaco and Nedlands come from overseas. The parents may have work at the university or medical precinct on a two-year sabbatical. Their six or seven-year-old child is from a non–English speaking country and has simply arrived at a school because of the pure nature of the cluster of medical university facilities within my electorate. The parents turn up at the door mid-term with an eight-year-old Brazilian student who cannot speak a word of English because of the crowding out of the special needs education language school in Highgate. Once again, I understand that this is because that school in Highgate is bursting at the seams. The point I am trying to make is to please not think of and categorise the primary schools in the electorate of Nedlands as somehow privileged; they are not. They are students of primary education at government-funded schools and they deserve the same attention and teacher aides and other infrastructure as any other school in Western Australia. Bear in mind that special needs cluster groupings can occur. The special schools in the North West are a special case.
I remind members of the schools in Nedlands, including Jolimont Primary School, which is a wonderful school. We all know of these schools because many of them are also polling booths. I have met all the P&Cs and principals. I love that and I actually get quite emotional going to the schools. I truly do. I have even come to tears sometimes because I have seen the work that is going on and the dedication of the teaching staff, which members have also seen in their schools such as those in Maylands, South Perth and Victoria Park. A wonderful formation of Australians is occurring in those schools.
As I said in my presentation before, the jolly green nature play projects aim to rehabilitate hard surface play areas into soft surface nature areas. At Rosalie Primary School, we had the undercover shade area built so that the kids could have their assemblies under one roof and it could also be used on very hot and very wet days. I happen to be very lucky. We get criticised for not going to the outer suburbs. Members might be surprised to learn that I go to Landsdale every single week.
Several members interjected.
Mr Jonathan Huston: I also have my Transperth card.
Several members interjected.
Mr Jonathan Huston: It is not bad.
Several members interjected.
Mr Jonathan Huston: I go to Merriwa as well when I am on my way through, if that qualifies. I go to the Royal Australian Air Force Association there very often. The idea that we do not go out and meet people is just bunkum. It is as if we are sitting in some sort of cloister. I happen to play community sport as well. I play hockey at primary schools. I look at the amazing facilities they have there. It is almost like the Taj Mahal in the suburbs in the far east. I think: "We can only look in awe at the stuff they have got out there." It is astounding. Even when I play hockey in Rockingham, I often look at the facilities there. The point I am making is that my electorate has the primary schools of Jolimont, Rosalie, Nedlands, Dalkeith and Hollywood. It also has Shenton College, which has 3,000 students. There are 500 students per stream. I have Bob Hawke College in my electorate as well Perth Modern. I have two other wonderful schools in my electorate, Quintilian School and Moerlina School. Some of those schools have significant heritage buildings, like Subiaco Primary School, most particularly. Its facilities are very old.
In fact, they would love to have a brand new school built, but they love the heritage buildings they have. In the case of Subiaco Primary School particularly, they need assistance. Let us not penalise children from the western suburbs, from Churchlands, Cottesloe and even Scarborough or wherever, who are public students. They go to a public education facility and they deserve the same attention as anybody else. I salute the parents and children's associations and the principals and staff of those schools who are doing their best, often in very difficult circumstances and with very little infrastructure support.
Having said that, I would like to refocus, and try to make up time because of what we have just gone through, so we get back on track. Minister, please take the $36 million or $38 million—there is a bit of land in Fremantle so we are not sure of its total value—in the trust fund, and give it back to schools to use. It is a moral issue. Give it back to them. If the government wants to, it can form a special fund, administer it and have a special grants program. If the government did that, it would win the respect of those schools and it would certainly win my respect as well. I would congratulate the government for that decision. I would focus on the outcomes; members will find that is what I will be doing over the next four years.
Having said that, I will wrap up quickly so that we can get back on track. I really just wanted to state that we should be focusing our attention on these projects, like public education and primary schools and infrastructure, and not on pet projects. It is the core business of a state government. It is core business and why we are here. If there is one thing about us as Liberals, we are always trying to focus on the core business of what we should be doing under our obligations to the taxpayer. With that in mind, I commend the motion to the house and thank members for their time today.
Mr Bevan Eatts (Warren–Blackwood) (5:12 pm): I am also speaking in support of the motion:
That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for prioritising its pet projects over delivering the world-class education system that Western Australians deserve.
I rise today on behalf of every student, teacher and parent across regional WA who feels this government has turned its back on them. While billions flow into shiny projects like Metronet and the Burswood entertainment precinct, essential upgrades for regional education are being systematically ignored.
Let us start with Margaret River Senior High School, a thriving school at the heart of one of WA's fastest growing regions. Built for 650 students, the school is now accommodating over 1,200, with enrolment projections showing it will exceed 2,000 within a few short years, and yet stage 2 of the school's upgrade—the one that was meant to futureproof it—is nowhere to be seen in this budget. The school is completely out of space. Every classroom is in use every period of every day. Teachers have had to give up their own staffroom to create another makeshift classroom. Essential programs like home economics, dance, woodwork, textiles and farm mechanics are being run out of transportables. Next year, metalwork and third generation learning, both of which require specialised infrastructure and digital switching, are due to be pushed into temporary facilities as well.
This is not a future issue; it is a crisis now. The school board, led by chair Miss Barbara Maidment, has made multiple formal requests to the government for support. The former Labor member for Warren–Blackwood visited the school and saw the situation firsthand. Since the change in minister, the board has written to the new Minister for Education and asked her to visit. To date, no visit has occurred. I, too, have raised this issue in this place on at least three separate occasions since the new Parliament started. I have submitted questions and I have spoken to the issue directly. Several weeks ago, I personally wrote to the minister formally requesting a meeting. Despite all that and the mountain of evidence, the local advocacy and the formal engagement, Margaret River Senior High School has been completely missed as a line item in this year's budget.
How can a government claim to prioritise education when it ignores such a glaring need? How do we justify $217 million for a brand new racetrack and entertainment precinct in Burswood and $60 million for a rugby deal while doing nothing for a school in one of state's fastest growing regions? It sends a message loud and clear: if you are not in Perth, you are not a priority. This pattern is repeated across Warren–Blackwood. Cowaramup Primary School is struggling with growth and facilities that are not keeping up. Margaret River Primary School faces similar pressure, with no investment on the horizon. Boyup Brook District High School needs upgrades. Manjimup Senior High School was overlooked entirely in this budget again.
Meanwhile, the Cook government has moved to dissolve the Public Education Endowment Trust that was created to support schools and redirect nearly $36 million into consolidated revenue, with no requirement it will ever be spent on education again. Let me be clear, we supported the repeal of the outdated trust model, but that money should be quarantined and directed specifically into public education where the need is greatest, like Margaret River. Acting Speaker, this is not about politics; it is about fairness. It is about doing what is right. Margaret River Senior High School has done everything by the book and more. The board has advocated, the community has mobilised. We have raised the issue here. We have raised it there. I have raised it from this very chair. I have raised it everywhere! That is a quote from one of the great children's books of Dr Seuss. The minister is probably sick of me raising Margaret River Senior High School, but if the minister will not listen now, when will she listen? I will continue to raise it while I am in Parliament and until we have some action.
While the government spends big in its own backyard, our regional students are learning in overcrowded rooms, demountables and makeshift teaching spaces. Right across regional WA, we are facing a worsening teacher shortage crisis. Recent media reports show that nearly 4,000 students are taking at least one subject through the School of Isolated and Distance Education, known as SIDE, due to a lack of qualified teachers. That was a 42% increase in SIDE enrolments in just three years. They went from 2,824 in 2022 to 3,998 in February 2025. This is not a sign of innovation; it is a symptom of failure. We know that in-person, face-to-face teaching with a qualified educator is best practice, but too many regional students are missing out, not because of location but because of this government's failure to secure and support the teacher workforce in country WA.
The issue goes beyond budgets; at its heart it is an issue of equality and opportunity. We cannot let geography determine the quality of a child's education. It is not world-class education; it is a second-class service. That is why this motion matters. We cannot allow a government to prioritise pet projects and public relations exercises over the real needs of real families. We condemn the Cook Labor government's failure to act, we condemn its failure to invest in the regions, and we condemn its refusal to listen to the people who are asking respectfully and repeatedly for what their children desperately need and deserve. Thank you.
Mr Adam Hort (Kalamunda) (5:18 pm): I rise to support this motion condemning the Labor government for putting political projects ahead of public priorities. Education is, unfortunately, not free from the consequences of this neglect. Education is not a luxury; it is a foundation of opportunity. It determines whether a young person can read with confidence, write clearly and think critically. It also shapes the kind of state we become—more equal, more secure and more prepared for the future. We should be leading the country in education, but we are not. NAPLAN results for 2024 show that nearly one in three year 9 students in WA is not meeting the minimum standard in writing. In numeracy, the story is just as worrying. Across all year levels, about one-third of students are now falling below the national proficiency benchmark. These are not isolated cases. This is thousands of young people across our suburbs, our towns and our regions who are being failed by a system that is under stress.
In the Perth hills, our amazing schools and their amazing staff are doing their best, but staff are stretched thin. Teacher shortages mean classes are being merged, senior staff are stepping in to cover lessons and specialist subjects are being dropped altogether. Facilities are not keeping up either. Too many schools are relying on demountables as permanent classrooms. Some buildings are decades out of date. Routine upgrades are delayed year after year. This is not what a strong education system looks like. It is even worse in regional WA. I had the absolute pleasure of travelling right around regional WA in my former role. There are 112 sites with medicines in them in the WA Country Health Service and I was fortunate to travel to many of them. At the same time, I was able to indirectly see many schools and the great work they do.
At the end of the day, the divide between the city and the country is growing, and this government is not interested in closing it. But it is not a question of money; it is a question of priorities. The government is spending $220 million, if that is how much it will cost, on a racetrack that no-one asked for. Local councils and community groups oppose it, yet Labor is pressing ahead while hills students sit in ageing classrooms and wait for the basics. That is not the only example. Metronet has blown out by more than $14 billion. That is public money being poured into delays, mismanagement and cost overruns. No-one denies the need for public transport investment—it is essential—but when a single project starts swallowing up that much of the state's resources, we have to ask: Where is the balance? Where are the priorities and where are the losers? While billions are being lost on Metronet, schools right here in Perth, in our regions and in the Perth hills are missing out on the basics. I recently visited Wooroloo Primary School on the edge of the metropolitan area. There are children there who do not even have access to computers. If we asked the parents or teachers of those children whether they would prefer a racetrack on the Swan or basic schooling infrastructure, I can bet right now which answer they would give. This is just one example. In other schools across the Perth hills and right across the state the list of overdue upgrades, stretched resources and missed opportunities for investment is endless.
The consequences go far beyond the classroom, because when a child falls behind at school and no-one notices, that problem does not disappear; it grows. A child who disengages from learning at age 10 is more likely to become a teenager who walks away from education altogether. A teenager who feels ignored or excluded is more likely to struggle with mental health, connection and trust. They are more likely to find themselves isolated, unemployed or in trouble. That is where the real cost lies. When schools are under-resourced, when teachers are unsupported and when students feel forgotten, it feeds a cycle that affects whole communities. Education is not separate from social policy; it is part of the front line.
I want to take a moment to thank the government. That does not happen very often in this place, but I will do it. During the election campaign I worked very closely with parents and students in Lesmurdie and Glen Forrest, and we identified through their advocacy that Glen Forrest Primary School was short of funds. It desperately needed funds to rebuild its early learning centre, so we advocated for that. In the end, we made it a commitment of the Liberal Party at the last election—$12 million for the Glen Forrest early learning centre as part of that primary school. I want to thank the government for matching that commitment, as well as $30,000 for Lesmurdie Primary School's early learning playground, which is something the community sought. There are a few wins, but they do not go far enough.
What happens inside the classroom—the pressures, the challenges, the warning signs—all spill out into the broader community. Right now, those warning signs could not be clearer. Youth violence and antisocial behaviour are ever-present, not just on our streets, but also within the school gates themselves. Every student, every teacher and every parent deserves to feel safe at school, but, sadly, school violence has soared to extreme levels under this government. The numbers are confronting, and I will share them with members now. In the last school year alone, more than 2,000 physical assaults were reported against teachers and school staff in Western Australian schools—2,080 incidents. That is just the ones that were formally recorded. Behind those numbers are real people—teachers at work being shoved, bitten or kicked simply for doing their job; students trying to learn while fights break out around them; and parents sending their children to school each morning unsure whether they will come home safe. The Australian Catholic University's national survey paints a grim picture for WA in particular. Nearly 60% of WA school leaders—principals and deputy principals—reported being physically assaulted on the job in the last year. Sixty per cent were shoved, bitten or kicked. That is what too many of our principals and deputy principals are facing under this government. It is no wonder our teachers are at breaking point. The State School Teachers' Union of WA's latest survey of more than 1,600 educators makes that crystal clear. Over half of the respondents reported being verbally abused at least once in the past year. A staggering 27% had experienced physical violence themselves. These are not isolated incidents; this is a systemic failure of leadership—a failure to properly invest in prevention, early intervention and frontline support for our schools.
When teachers feel unsafe, when students are exposed to violence and when classrooms become battlegrounds, the consequences ripple far beyond the school gates. It fuels youth disengagement, drives antisocial behaviour and feeds the very problems we see in our neighbourhoods—young people falling through the cracks and into the justice system. Yet despite these alarming facts, the Labor government has been too slow to act and too focused on the wrong priorities. Let us be clear: cracking down after the fact is not the same as preventing the problem in the first place. Yes, violence is a complex issue, but complexity is not an excuse for inaction. It demands a serious practical response—one that starts well before a child lashes out.
While all this is happening—while teachers are being attacked, students are falling behind and classrooms are descending into chaos—the government somehow finds hundreds of millions for a racetrack and wastes billions on a blowout. It is about priorities, and this government's priorities are completely and utterly out of step with the real needs of our communities. It does not have to be this way. We believe there are practical, constructive steps we can take to reduce youth violence and better support our schools. It starts with prevention, but it also requires stronger collaboration between education and law enforcement. At the last election, we committed to introducing programs that would place experienced police officers into schools, not as an enforcement piece or an enforcement presence, but as mentors, role models and trusted support for both students and staff. I have spoken to many former police officers who would welcome the opportunity to use their many years of experience to facilitate role modelling and support students in our schools. This is not about criminalising young people; it is about building relationships and fostering trust. It is about guidance. It is about giving these senior officers with years of experience behind them a meaningful opportunity to contribute at the end of their policing careers and to help break the cycle of disengagement and antisocial behaviour before it escalates. At the end of the day, every young person who feels supported at school, every teacher who feels safe in their classroom and every family that sees education as a positive pathway will strengthen our entire community. When we fail to invest in these things, leave teachers exposed, leave students forgotten and leave our schools under-resourced, the cost is paid by all of us—in our classrooms, on our streets and in our justice system.
The choice is simple: keep pouring money into pet projects or realign our priorities to invest in what matters. That is what we are here for.
Education is one of the core functions of government. It is one of the core functions of why I think we are all here. Education is at the core of a state government's responsibilities to enable people to have the kids of the future—the young Australians, as the member for Nedlands said—and give them the opportunity to be the best version of themselves. Education, prevention and our young people—that is the challenge before this government and that is the standard our communities expect them to meet. It is time to get the basics right. It is time to back our schools, our teachers and our young people, not just with words but with real investment and practical action.
I commend this motion to the house.
Dr Tony Buti (Armadale—Minister for Tertiary and International Education) (5:30 pm): We only have 29 minutes and I want to leave time for a couple of other speakers, which is a shame because I could go on for a couple of hours in response to this motion, which, of course, we will not be supporting.
I start by acknowledging that the member for Carine and I should be at a farewell function at the moment for Wayne Bull, who is the retiring CEO of the Catholic Education Association of Western Australia. He has provided outstanding service to education, particularly Catholic education, in Western Australia since I think 1978. I think he started in the year that John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John did Grease, whatever that year was. It must be around 1977.
Ms Hannah Beazley: He was my year 9 teacher.
Dr Tony Buti: There you go; he was a year 9 teacher. He was also principal of La Salle College. He provided an outstanding service to Western Australian education. I know the member for Carine will join me in wishing him the best of luck for the future and thank him very much for his service.
One great thing about WA's education system is how public education works with Catholic education and the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia. It has always been a very collaborative role, and in my time as Minister for Education, I very much enjoyed working with all organisations.
There are a lot of things to get through and I unfortunately am not going to get through everything that the opposition raised. I will very briefly start off with the member for Kalamunda, who I have great respect for, who talked about police officers. A policy the Liberal Party took to the election was to put retired police officers into schools, which is quite ironic because it was the Barnett government that removed police officers from police and community youth centres. PCYCs were all about allowing you to associate with police. What did the Barnett government do? It took the police away and privatised it. It nearly collapsed. It was under Michelle Roberts's tenure as Minister for Police that we injected significant funds into it. I think in the recent budget, there is a further $10 million injection into PCYCs. We are not going to take a lecture from the opposition about retired police officers having a role in interactions with youth because the opposition gutted the system that we had in place. I am not sure about the member for Roe, but if you grew up in the country, you know how important PCYCs are. I know when I lived in Collie for the first nine years of my life, PCYCs were really important.
I am going to briefly go through some of the commitments in this budget and contrast what the Liberal Party and the National Party promised at the election. We will see the difference very quickly. In the 2025–26 budget, the Cook Labor government has committed an additional $1.5 billion for education. In the 2025–26 budget for education, an additional $8.4 billion has been injected for just this year alone. This includes $669 million in school infrastructure investment for the next financial year, which is almost double what was being spent on infrastructure when Labor came to government in 2017.
The budget also gets a number of our election commitments underway. For the second round of the Western Australian student assistance payments, there is $88.7 million. The member for Como will talk about Como Secondary College, which is part of the injection of $134.9 million to progress the planning for 17 major school upgrades. The member for Nedlands talked about the special fund for education. We went to the election with our forward commitments in education. For the first time, we now have an infrastructure fund. We have a separate education infrastructure fund to build new schools. Not only that, we also have a special rolling maintenance fund for our public schools. Never before has that happened. We have to realise that we live in the second largest education jurisdiction in the world, second only to Russia in geographical size. We have over 830 schools that go from Kununurra, Esperance, Albany, Bunbury, Margaret River, Armadale, Nedlands, Cottesloe to Rockingham et cetera. It is hard. There is no doubt there are major challenges with over 830 schools and some in very remote areas. We also have $98.8 million to commence the first tranche of minor upgrades to 61 schools, including air conditioning upgrades to the first batch of 45 schools as part of our Cool the Schools program. We have also delivered in this budget $32.8 million to deliver more than 500 local commitments for facility and equipment upgrades for schools across Western Australia, including shade at Cecil Andrews College in Armadale, which gets very hot. There is $29 million for 10 pilot sites for free full-time school-based kindy for four year olds. It is not mandatory. There is $28 million to expand the school breakfast program to five days per week in over 670 locations. There is $10 million for school canteens to purchase equipment to upgrade canteen kitchen facilities and employ staff for healthy and affordable lunches. There is $8 million to provide further cost-of-living support for families living in the regions and remote areas to attend Country Week. I know the National Party matched that and copied us in their election manifesto. There is $8 million to upgrade remote non-government schools in the Kimberley. State governments do not generally fund infrastructure in non-government schools, but in certain remote communities in the Kimberley, there is only one school, so we provided $8 million for upgrades.
Let us contrast that to the policies of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Liberal Party's education policy at the election was this pretty flimsy document. It committed $127 million of infrastructure. That was it. It stands up today and talks about substandard buildings and schools when we have invested $669 million in this budget alone. I mean, the Liberal Party's overall education budget is just amazing. It talked about the entertainment and sporting precinct at Burswood and it keeps talking about this $217 million. Guess what? That is actually more than the Liberal Party's total education commitment going into the last election. It said in its election manifesto—
Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.
Dr Tony Buti: I did not interrupt the Leader of the Opposition or any other members, so please do not interrupt me.
The Liberal Party pledged to invest in more than $200 million—$200 million was there and $127 million of that was for infrastructure. Come on! That is not going to help. You are not going to get much out of that for 830-odd schools when you need to build new schools every year.
What did the National Party promise? I think it actually might have done a little bit better than the Liberal Party. It said that it was going to provide $165 million for infrastructure—that was it. That included $60 million for Como because it had a National Party candidate there, didn't it? They did not do very well, but anyway.
The member for Central Wheatbelt talks about Labor doing really bad in the country.
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
Dr Tony Buti: I did not interrupt the member. Even though we have more members in Parliament from the regions than the National Party—
A member interjected.
Dr Tony Buti: We do overall—count it. Plus, how well did it do with its metropolitan candidates? Not very well, so I would not be going down there. There was $165 million for infrastructure and $60 million was going to go to Como, $60 million to Esperance and then $45 million for Margaret River. What about all the 833 schools that are left and all the new schools that need to be built every year? What was that going to come from? The National Party really should have looked at what it promised at the election before it moved this motion. As the Minister for Education going into the election, I could not believe what the Liberal Party was committing to in education—basically nothing.
Let us look further at school infrastructure; the opposition has nothing to stand on. I do not have time to go through everything, but the government is building new primary and high schools and funding major upgrades to 17 schools and minor upgrades to 61 schools, including classroom refurbishments, sporting facility upgrades and reverse-cycle air conditioning upgrades to 45 schools et cetera. I would love to have more time, but I do not.
I agree that providing first-class education in the regions is definitely a challenge, but this government has made major investments in the regions. I have talked about the $8 million for the Country Week assistance program and the new primary school in Vasse. The member for Warren–Blackwood did not mention the major investment the government has made in Cowaramup Primary School, which the former Liberal–National government did not do during its term of government. It is a major investment, as the member very well knows. The member for Warren–Blackwood also did not talk about the investment we have made in Denmark Primary School. The government has made major upgrades at 60 schools. The air conditioning upgrade includes nine schools in the region and there are minor upgrades in eight other schools. Over the next four years, the state government will spend an estimated $1.9 billion per annum to provide the approximately 88,000 students enrolled in 340 schools across regional WA access to quality education. In addition, $219.7 million will be invested over the next four years in regional primary and secondary school maintenance, refurbishments, upgrades and new buildings. There are major other projects and STEM upgrades, including permanent locations in Northam and Karratha for the School of Alternative Learning Settings. As the member for Albany well knows, North Albany Senior High School will receive major improvements. Over the years, major upgrades have been made to Albany Senior High School—its performing arts centre is amazing—and to schools in Australind and Broome. As I said, I would love to have more time, but I do not.
When the opposition talks about providing first-class education and says that the Western Australian government is not interested in public education and that it does not have its priorities right, one has to go no further than the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement. The member for Roe will know about this. For members who do not know, the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is an agreement between the Commonwealth and state government about funding allocations in education. Members opposite will remember the Gonski inquiry, which set an index to ensure that every child receives an adequate education; it is about funding for each student. It generally worked with the Commonwealth providing 80% of funding for private schools, with the state providing 20%. For public schools, the Feds provided 20% and the states provided 80%. Over a number of years, all the states had fallen below the 80%; we had the perverse situation in which private school kids were being provided 100% funding according to the Gonski index, but public school students were not. When Jason Clare became the minister, he said that situation was intolerable and we had to reach 100% for public school students. He was prepared to inject additional funding into schools if the states agreed to sign on to the Better and Fairer School Agreement. The Commonwealth had to increase its funding.
We were the first state in Australia to sign the intention to sign that agreement, and we have now signed the agreement, which means that over $1.6 billion has been injected over and above normal funding into WA public schools. That money is tied to certain parameters, which are centred on supporting the wellbeing of students and teachers, providing targeted and intensive support to students and providing support for greater learning engagement, including counsellors, psychologists and health nurses. Key initiatives have already been rolled out, such as $16.5 million to increase to six the number of full-time equivalent complex behaviour support coordinators in 192 WA public schools; $21.8 million for the small group tuition initiative, which provides targeted literacy and numeracy support to students in 350 Western Australian public schools; and $4.5 million to boost funding to regional schools with fewer than 100 students. As the member for Roe knows, we did that last year. This means that government schools are 100% funded. It is the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). We were the first jurisdiction in Australia to commit to that, so please do not stand up in here and say that this government is not committed to public education, because we are very committed.
One of the things that is part of the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement reforms is the full-service school model. I pay due to the advocacy of Hon Donna Faragher—this did not happen during the Barnett government's time in power—during her eight years in opposition because she was very committed to ensuring that we increase the supply of allied professionals in schools because it was needed. We have talked about violence in schools. We are the government that brought in much stricter discipline procedures, and I enhanced those when I became the minister. But, as members know, there is only so much that we can do. It comes down to parental responsibility—parents taking responsibility for ensuring that their kids behave. We also enhanced the policy that relates to parents engaging in threatening behaviour at schools. Principals know that they have the ability under policy and law to seek prohibition orders to exclude certain parents from entering school property.
Getting back to full-service schools and allied professionals, under the reforms of the Better and Fairer Schools program, we have to commit to four schools becoming full-service schools. "Full-service school" means that the school becomes the hub for allied services. I have been a massive proponent of this. I wrote policy papers about this in 2014 or 2015. It is the way of the future. In many education forums I attended as minister over the last few years, I might as well have been the Minister for Health rather than the Minister for Education because the problem that people wanted to talk about was not the instruction provided by teachers, but the need for allied services. That is what we are very committed to.
The member for Roe talked about Facing the Facts: A review of Public Education in Western Australia and the State School Teachers' Union of WA. Many of the recommendations in that report have been addressed. A working party is looking into the other recommendations. I pay tribute to Matt Jarman and his team, because they are strong advocates for their workforce. Teaching is a tough profession and there are many, many challenges.
We do not have an overall teaching supply issue, but a supply issue in certain schools or regions. It is more acute in the regions. My view is that we should be seeking to recruit country people to become teachers, because they are more inclined to return and stay in their home towns. We could also look at the old bond system—I am no longer the education minister, so I am freer to say this—whereby people went to university and were paid a stipend, but they were bonded to regional schools for a couple of years. It would be even better if the federal government provided Higher Education Contributions Scheme relief—a reduction in HECS debt—to those who went to remote, regional and hard-to-staff schools. Having said that, we provided major retention and attraction schemes at our most hard-to-staff schools in the regions, and that has been very successful. I could keep going but I cannot unfortunately because two other great speakers want to make a contribution. When we look at what the folks on the other side were offering prior to the election and what we are providing in this budget, we thought this motion was a bit of a joke. I will leave it at that.
Ms Jodie Hanns (Collie–Preston—Parliamentary Secretary) (5:50 pm): I rise today to make a very short contribution because I want to leave some time for the member for South Perth. I want to reflect on the fact that as a deputy principal and teacher for nearly 30 years within the education department, we will obviously be rejecting this motion. With that experience, I want to very clearly say that I will not be lectured to about funding for education by the opposition. I think I need to borrow the member for Central Wheatbelt's mirror to reflect on some of the issues that I encountered over the last 30 years in my education career. I will touch on the Liberal–National record around both education and training because I have a burning desire to make sure this is on Hansard. I wanted to reflect very quickly on the student assistance payments. This week we reached 262,000 claims under the student assistance payment scheme. We are doing everything on our side to make sure that parents put in a claim for that assistance.
I was really interested to hear the member for Nedlands say today that he has some really needy schools in his electorate. I went on his Facebook page to see whether he is promoting the student assistance payment because that would be really welcomed in those schools. There was no mention of the student assistance payment. Very quickly, I went through other members' pages. There is nothing on the member for Churchlands' page. Yes, there was reference on the member for Vasse's page, but she said the student assistance payment was a disaster. There was nothing from the member for Carine, nothing from the member for Kalamunda and nothing from the member for Central Wheatbelt. In answer to the question about the member for Roe, he did have something on his page, which was great for the shadow Minister for Education. It was about promoting paper copies because the opposition had made such a hoo-ha about the rollout of the ServiceWA app.
I would like to say that the payment helped many families meet the costs of education across the state in 2024. We are really proud to be rolling that out again in 2025. I remember the member for Vasse interjecting during the debate about this last term, saying, "It's too late, it's the wrong things you're funding, it's not targeted" and all that sort of stuff. I remember the Treasurer pointing out the fact that children grow all year round; they need new winter uniforms and they need new shoes for sport. It is absolutely atrocious and laughable that we sit here today being lectured about education from the opposition.
The member for Carine has brought an incredibly rich motion to this house today. We cannot have a world-class education system without strong investment in our TAFEs. For those who might not be familiar, students at school can study vocational education and training while still being enrolled as a high school student. It is an incredible opportunity for young people in our system. TAFE plays a really important role in that. Under the Liberals and Nationals, we know that TAFE fees skyrocketed by over 500% when they were last in government. God help us if they ever get back in because we know what we are in for. They did not even have a skills and TAFE policy leading up to the last election. If it were up to them, our TAFEs would be gutted. Only Labor has delivered for the TAFE system and only Labor can deliver world-class education for Western Australians.
I would like to talk briefly about vocational education and training in schools, given that was the bulk of the work I did in my 30 years in the education department. I want to wind the clock back because I know that those on the opposition benches talk about the fact that they were not here and they were not in that government so things are different now. I just want to say that our future performance is indicated by our past performance. There are no triple Ps; that would be unparliamentary. The opposition's record on this is appalling. I am not going to take interjections because I do not have very long to speak and I really want to put this on the record.
Several members interjected.
The Acting Speaker (Mrs Magenta Marshall): Members!
Ms Jodie Hanns: Acting Speaker, I seek your protection because it is really important —
The Acting Speaker: Thank you, members. Please.
Ms Jodie Hanns: We talked about violence in schools. As a deputy principal and/or teacher, I can tell members that I received death threats. The number one issue that I received a death threat over was the policy of the former government in 2016 about slashing VET funding in high schools. I was a VET coordinator at that time. Students could study one qualification in year 11 and one qualification in year 12. When the former Liberal–National government put the finances of this state into decline—
Mr Reece Whitby: The toilet.
Ms Jodie Hanns: Yes, the toilet. I was trying to think of a word that was parliamentary. What happened is that young people could only study one qualification during years 11 and 12. That was great! A student, particularly boys, in my experience, under our previous funding, could have done a heavy duty diesel mechanic pre-apprenticeship in year 11 and followed that up with an electrical pre-app in year 12 if they were not successful in gaining qualifications. The former government made it so that those students could study for only one qualification. The kids got to the end of year 11 and said, "What now?" They had to go and do maths, science, phys. ed, maybe home economics and all those sorts of things. But some of those kids were practical hands-on VET students who had a very deep love for, and wanted to pursue a career in, the trades. I want to make sure that members opposite are well aware of that because, in my experience, that was one of the Barnett government's cuts in training and education that decimated students in regional WA.
With these new investments, I am really proud to say that in 2022, the Cook Labor government committed to provide an additional 4,000 VET-in-schools training places annually by 2024. We expanded access for students to complete two publicly funded VET qualifications. We brought it back. I am incredibly proud of the work that we have done. As I said, I will not be lectured to by the opposition on this matter.
Mr Geoff Baker (South Perth) (5:57 pm): I rise to oppose this motion. In my one or two minutes, I want to give members a very quick history lesson on how we got to where we are and the irony of the motion moved. It relates to infrastructure funding during the later years of the Barnett government. As the budget collapsed under the Liberal government at the time, a whole lot of upgrades, expansions and maintenance got pushed out of the education budget into the future years outside of its budget. That all accumulated and we are now dealing with that and getting through it. Budget repair in 2017 was the most important thing for us to deal with.
After I got elected, we had to look at where the schools were. We now have a $1.5 billion program for upgrading schools. The biggest upgrade in that program is Como Secondary College. I am really proud about that. The rebuild started in South Perth. Our side has made a commitment, which is something that those opposite will never experience; that is, when the leader makes a commitment, we can trust him to deliver. That is something that the opposition will not experience in a long time.
After I was elected, I got taken around the local schools by all the different principals and I saw the amount of work that needed to be done. John McGrath, a great man and a former member for South Perth, could not get a cent out of the Liberal government for those upgrades. Now we have a program for building at all the primary schools in my electorate—Kensington, Curtin, Collier, South Perth, Manning and Como primary schools and at the high school. How long do I have? We have already started. We had a canteen upgrade from Mark McGowan at Como secondary, which we opened.
These are all simple things that could have happened. We are getting through them all now and we are not going to stop. We are still fixing these years of underinvestment. We are still fixing the things that needed to be done during the opposition's term in office.
Debate interrupted, pursuant to standing orders.
(Continued at a later stage of the sitting.)
