Federal election: our votes count

By Maree O’Halloran

The Coalition and the ALP have started their federal election campaigns proper by sidelining issues of concern to public education supporters. Yet those supporters make up almost 70 per cent of the constituency.

The Howard Government is working overtime to convince the electorate that public schools and TAFE colleges are a state issue, and that the Federal Government’s role is to provide people with the choice of a private school education.

The Latham Opposition, on the other hand, wants people to believe that “public schooling” is not qualitatively different to “private schooling”. Mark Latham pronounces that debate be dead. Funding is to be based on “need” with unspecified additional funds to flow to government schools and low-fee paying private schools.

Thus, while teacher unionists are seeing cracks in the usual bipartisan policy about the funding of our schools, the fundamental debate about the value of public education in a democratic and pluralist society is deliberately avoided by the major parties. It’s avoided because providing a quality, universal and free public education system requires a far greater investment than governments of either ilk are prepared to make.
Public education is a federal and state responsibility.

Both federal and state governments fund schools and TAFE. Both levels of government short change public education. While the amount of direct Federal Government expenditure is smaller than the State Government’s contribution, it still has a significant effect.

Thus, the Federal Government cannot be allowed to merely shift blame to the states. During the federal election, it is the Federal Government’s policies and decisions which should be examined by voters. Where this Federal Government has a choice, it chooses to spend 73.7 per cent of its direct schools expenditure on the 32 per cent of students in private schools. (2005–2008 direct Federal Government recurrent expenditure on schools.)

Federal governments have not always made this choice. Until the early 1980s, the majority of direct Federal Government funding went to public schools. In the Hawke/Keating years this changed. The split was roughly 55 per cent private and 45 per cent public until 1996 when the Howard Government was elected.

Since 1996 direct Federal Government expenditure on private school students has increased at a far greater rate than its expenditure on public school students.
Public education clearly cannot afford another Howard Government. Its policies are about advancing privatisation at the expense of our great public schools.

The ALP has announced that there will be additional funding for government schools but there has been no detail about its funding policy. The result is an understandable and growing cynicism from public education voters.

On September 3, the Labor Opposition announced a policy about “better schools, better teachers, better values”. This policy followed the ALP’s “Community Charter” with Catholic Schools on August 25.The effect of both releases was to feed the perception created by Prime Minister John Howard of a problem in our schools.

If the ALP’s funding policy is to be based on “need”, then the following analysis based on the 2001 Census data is instructive.

Government schools clearly have the highest proportion of children from low-income families. The “need” of public schools is greater than the need of their neighbouring private schools be they high or low fee schools.

The Greens' education policy remains superior to that of all parties. Their importance in the next Senate cannot be underestimated. Over the next few weeks teacher unionists have to ensure that the value of and funding for public education becomes the issue of the election.


Maree O’Halloran is the President.



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September 2004 contents