Billions more for public school, says Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese told the National Press Club the federal government has secured new schools funding agreements with Victoria and South Australia, after months of stalled negotiations.

Anthony Albanese addresses the National Press Club in Canberra on Friday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Anthony Albanese has unleashed a multi-billion education cash splash in key election states, reaching new school funding agreements in Victoria and South Australia after months of stalled negotiations.

The Prime Minister called education a “defining point of difference” between Labor and its opponents, and said “building Australia’s future through every stage of education will be a defining priority of a re-elected Labor government”.

“Two weeks ago, the Leader of the Opposition published a list of his 12 priorities for government. Education and skills didn’t even rate a mention. For Labor, nothing is more important to building Australia’s future than education,” he told the National Press Club on Friday.

It comes as the Greens announced a $10bn cash splash policy in a bid to make public schools completely free by providing families with $800 per child for school supplies at the start of each year and abolishing all out-of-pocket fees for parents.

The commonwealth will provide $1bn in additional funding to South Australian public schools and around $2.5bn to Victorian public schools over the next 10 years as per the agreement.

The bipartisan reforms were set to increase the commonwealth’s share of public school funding from 20 to 22.5 per cent.

Following the lengthy negotiations, the commonwealth will double its contribution for Victoria and South Australia from 20 per cent to 25 per cent of public funding by 2034.

The Northern Territory, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT will collectively receive an extra $1.8bn from 2025 to 2029.

NSW and Queensland are the only states yet to sign up to the agreement, which will realise David Gonski’s benchmark for fully funded public schools.

Despite this, Mr Albanese thanked NSW Premier Chris Minns and Queensland Premier David Crisafulli “for their constructive engagement”, adding that “it will be ongoing”.

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said “Labor’s school funding war continues with more than half of Australia’s government schools” in NSW and Queensland.

“(Education Minister) Mr (Jason) Clare failed to get the job done and more than 1.3 million students who attend government schools in NSW and Queensland continue to pay the price,” she said.

Mr Albanese heralded the funding agreements as “real reform” to deliver “real results”.

“What we are offering every state and territory is new commonwealth investment in the fundamentals that matter so much to students and matter so much to parents. The methods and resources that work, that make the biggest difference,” he said.

These include evidence-based instruction, phonics and numeracy testing in year 1, as well as “identifying students who need that extra help early on – not waiting until they’ve fallen behind”, classroom assistance and catch-up tutoring for small groups and one-on-one.

“This is about every parent knowing that their child can get the best start in life at their local school. Education opens up those doors of opportunity and it widens them. It changes lives,” he said.

“A great education is what every parent wants for their child. It’s what every Australian student deserves. And it’s what our government is determined to deliver.”

The Prime Minister also spruiked fee-free TAFE, as a proposal to legislate it has been largely rejected by the nation’s business community. “Free TAFE has changed lives. And we want to ­expand on this success,” Mr Albanese said.

“Only Labor will help you with your apprenticeship, cut your student debt by 20 per cent, and lock in free TAFE nationwide.”

He said the Coalition did not value education. “The Liberals say reducing student debt by 20 per cent is unfair. Their deputy leader says 600,000 Australians who’ve been given a chance to learn new skills through free TAFE don’t value that opportunity because they didn’t pay for it.

“They mocked the 15 per cent pay rise we’re delivering for early educators, and they stand against our plans to build new childcare centres and make childcare more affordable for families.”