Q&A: students lash Gonski 2.0

A panel of Australian high school students has taken on Education Minister Simon Birmingham on a special high school episode.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has leapt to the defence of the government’s Gonski 2.0 package against a volley of criticism from a panel of Australian students, on a special high school episode of Q&A.

This week’s program featured Senator Birmingham and opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek, discussing mainly education-related issues with four high school students from around the country.

A young student called Geordie Brown from Oxley High School in Tamworth in regional NSW confronted the Liberal MP, calling for greater funding for public schools.

“I want to put this in perspective for you because I’m from a rural and remote area. I go to a school which has to put really strict conditions on each faculty based on how much paper they can print out of a printer because we don’t have enough funding to print resources on paper. It’s not acceptable from my point of view, it’s not acceptable for you to sit there and to say something like if Labor were in government we’d be in this situation because at the end of the day the Australian public elected you as the government and you are in a responsible position now to fix these problems,” he said.

Other students agreed with Mr Brown.

Arthur Lim from Moorebank High School questioned whether funding for privates school was worth $11 billion, urging the federal government to reconsider its allocation of funding, while Burwood Girls High School captain Nadia Homem said while she has been able to thrive in a public school environment, she hasn’t been blind to its failings.

Lauren McGrath-Wild — the only panellist from a private school, Presbyterian Ladie’s College in Sydney — said children in the public school system in some parts of Australia were missing out on a quality education.

“Every single child in Australia should have the right to an equal education. It shouldn’t matter who your family is. How much your parents make. It shouldn’t matter what area you live in. But unfortunately this isn’t the current state of the Australian education system. We’re seeing with Gonski 2.0 there are a lot of reforms taking place, we’re reforming funding models in regards to education, but more needs to be done,” she said.

The Gonski 2.0 reforms passed the Senate in June and aim to deliver a $23.5 billion funding package for education, rolled out over the next six years.

Mr Birmingham backed the government’s plan, even as Ms Plibersek interrupted to say: “I’ve heard it all before. He makes stuff up.”

“That is the fourth time you’ve interrupted me,” said a frustrated Mr Birmingham. “Of the $23 billion extra we committed this year to school funding the fastest rates of growth go into the Government school systems.”

“So that’s ensuring that we’re delivering according to need. In terms of should non-government schools actually receive funding at all? Our view is that every Australian student deserves some degree of taxpayer support for their education. The level of taxpayer support, when you look at federal funding and state funding that goes into schools, is significantly greater for those in the government school system.”

CITIZENSHIP

The deputy opposition leader said if the Constitution was drafted today, it would not include section 44, but rejected the idea of a referendum to change it.

After mounting pressure to launch a citizenship audit, Malcolm Turnbull announced this afternoon there would be a resolution which would require MPs to publicly register their eligibility with a statement on their citizenship status.

Liberal MP John Alexander has become embroiled in the fiasco, issuing a statement this afternoon rejecting reports he holds British citizenship through his UK born father.

“If we can’t get a referendum right to acknowledge that indigenous Australians have a special place in Australia, if we can’t actually get that done, I don’t think people will forgive politicians for holding a referendum just to make our own lives a bit easier,” said Ms Plibersek.

However Ms Homem, who is a dual citizen, said the Constitution must be changed.

“Why does section 44 still exist? It’s no way a reflection of 2018 Australia. It’s time it be looked at, amended to more accurately reflect our values and an increasingly multicultural Australia,” she said.

Having grown up in Tamworth, Barnaby Joyce’s seat, Mr Brown said he had been incredibly disappointed to find out the former Deputy Prime Minister had been disqualified due to the dual citizenship fiasco.

“I’m not necessarily sure it’s a referendum that we need. I think we just need responsible politicians who have the care to actually check if they are dual citizens. And not to show what I would perceive as a level of disrespect to not go through all of the protocols before actually applying to be a politician. So for example, in my electorate, Barnaby Joyce was a member for parliament for 12 years. Over that 12 years he was paid $2.8 million. And for me, that is just unacceptable. For me, that shows a level of disrespect to the office that he represents.”

Senator Birmingham urged the Labor Party to back Mr Turnbull’s proposal today so everyone could move on.

“We really are putting out a full disclosure package in that sense for every MP and senator to act upon. We hope the Labor Party will be true to the word they’ve said about wanting to see disclosure and back us in doing so. And that ultimately we can really put this behind us.”

PARADISE PAPERS

The panellists were unanimous in condemning the actions of multinational companies whose tax affairs were exposed today with the leak of the Paradise Papers.

Mr Brown called it “absolutely unacceptable behaviour”, Ms McGrath said it was “completely wrong”, and Mr Lim called for greater regulatory clarification so destructive behaviour could be stamped out.

It was reassuring to hear such a resounding backlash from young, bright students, said Ms Plibersek, who also condemned the companies which have been involved.

“I’m just so reassured to hear from the three who have spoken already, that the vast majority of people and companies pay their fair share of tax. And the highlighting in the Paradise Papers now show the unethical behaviour of the super-rich and some companies that is to the detriment of all of us. So we need to take a systemic approach that first of all reinforces that most people do the right thing because people, if they think the tax system is broken they don’t want to pay their share either.”

Mr Birmingham said: “It’s probably sad to say not necessarily shocked because we’ve seen these types of revelations before … people will always seek to try to minimise the tax that they pay. And the challenge for governments will always be to make sure that people, particularly those of greater means, are paying their fair share. And that is something that we need to be vigilant about and made the changes to the laws to make sure that’s the case.”