News

Today’s announcement of a funding deal between the Albanese Government and the Tasmanian Government will lock in inequality for public schools, students and their families across the next decade.

The extent of inequity in Australia’s school funding has been revealed in new research, showing that almost double the number of private schools in Western Australia now receive more combined government funding (Commonwealth and state) per student than public schools of very similar size, location and with similar student needs.

Contrary to claims by the Cook and Albanese governments, the bilateral agreement signed by the state and Commonwealth governments on Tuesday will still leave public school students in Western Australia underfunded and not fully funded as claimed.

The 2024 NAPLAN results have delivered a damning indictment on the failure of governments to fully fund public schools and show, once again, the urgency of the Albanese Government delivering on their pre-election promise for public schools to be funded at 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard.

The Australian Education Union acknowledges the significant $768 million funding deal struck between the Albanese Government and the Northern Territory.

With Western Australia’s public education system currently facing a teacher shortage, among other issues, the unfortunate reality is that schools in regional and remote areas are the worst affected. While it is tough to find experienced, fully qualified teachers to teach specialist subjects in metropolitan schools, it’s far more difficult to attract those people to country schools.

The 2023 Report on Government Services released today by the Productivity Commission has highlighted the task that lies ahead for the Albanese Government to address the inequities in public education.

The Australian Education Union is urging the federal government to deliver on their election commitment of establishing a pathway to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) funding for Australia's public schools following the release of the Productivity Commission's review of the National Schools Reform Agreement (NSRA).

Every election, state and federal, is an opportunity to draw attention to the gross inequity of Australia’s bizarre schools funding system. No other developed country funds schools the way we do. We are the world leader when it comes to giving public money to private, fee- charging schools. And we languish near the bottom of international rankings when it comes to the percentage of education funding we give to our public schools.

Last year saw a succession of headline- grabbing climate disasters, from unprecedented heatwaves drying Europe’s rivers to catastrophic floods in Pakistan and Australia and the most powerful storms to hit Cuba and the USA

Every child has the right to a high quality education, delivered by qualified and professional teachers in their local neighbourhood. It is Australia’s public education system and its dedicated workforce that upholds this right.

The State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia has welcomed the announcement of a new Education Minister in today’s cabinet reshuffle, with the division into separate ministerial portfolios of early childhood education and training suggesting the state government is giving education a higher priority.

he State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia has rejected the state government’s desperate plans to fix the state’s teacher shortage, saying they will not address the underlying issues in the public education system.

President of the Cambodian hospitality union (LRSU) representing workers at the Naga World Casino Hotel was arrested in Phnom Penh airport and jailed on 26 November while returning from International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) World Congress in Melbourne.

We are at the end of yet another year which brought far more turmoil than we could have ever expected. We thought that we’d seen the worst of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 and that we were pretty well prepared - vaccinations mostly done – for the beginning of the year.