Editorial
What has happened to support for education? Policies by the NSW and federal governments suggest this vital field is no longer a priority of parliament.
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Instead money is being spent on advertising campaigns like the Commonwealth’s $28million to (according to Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Christopher Pyne) “help change the culture around innovation and science in our businesses”.
One would ask how can someone change the culture around innovation and science when they do not have the best education they can receive?
In December last year it was revealed the NSW government planned to halve the funding for TAFE under the Smart and Skilled reforms.
A move like this would force the public provider to compete for funding with up to 400 private colleges based on enrollment numbers, strike private training deals with companies and earn revenue from full-fee paying international students.
While the state government is unwilling to spend funding on supporting students, it will pay up to $2million creating eight new executive positions to oversee the state's vocational education and training sector, including TAFE.
Also, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has decided his government will not fund the last two years of the Gonski school deals, despite two-thirds of the $10billion from the Labor-instigated funding boost to be given to primary and secondary institutions in those years.
Estimates have stated without the money, NSW schools would be $1.27billion worse off, with public schools the hardest hit.
It is interesting to note, of the 18 Liberal MPs in cabinet, only four attended public high schools.
Finally, in December 2015 the federal government announced it was considering funding preschools like it funds schools, with different amounts for private and public bodies.
Currently, federal funding for schools sees about 17 per cent go to government schools and about 72 per cent for non-government schools.
As is evident, confirmation of these policies would disadvantage students in all sectors.
Without a supported education, it is the children of Australia who will suffer, missing out on the joyous paths that knowledge and training can take you down.
