Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Queensland Senator Penny Allman-Payne (Greens), which means it failed.

Senator Allman-Payne explained that:

The purpose of this is to remove the four per cent accounting loophole that was instigated by a coalition government and which for some reason Labor seems intent on keeping. Then shadow minister Plibersek said before the last federal election to a roomful of teachers at a conference that the government was going to remove this loophole. This is the loophole that allows states to include depreciation of buildings, busing of students in their share of their contribution to public schools. Some of those things are used by private schools but they don't lose that money. The government says that everybody needs to do their fair share. Well, the government could remove this four per cent loophole and that would bring the states up. Then they could lift their contribution and maybe we would get to 100 per cent. As long as this four per cent loophole remains, no matter what the government says, every public school in this country—WA, NT, Tasmania—will really only be at 96 per cent of the schooling resource standard.

Amendment text

(1) Schedule 1, page 8 (after line 15), at the end of Part 3, add:

14A Subsection 22A(5)

Omit “The total SRS amount ”, substitute “Subject to subsection (5A), the total SRS amount ”.

14B After subsection 22A(5)

Insert:

(5A) The total SRS amount for the State or Territory does not include an amount prescribed by regulations made for the purposes of this subsection.

(5B) Without limiting subsection (5A), regulations made for the purposes of that subsection must prescribe the amounts listed under the heading “2.1.3 Accounting exclusions and deductions” in version 8.8 of the document titled “My School Financial Reporting Key Principles and Methodology” published by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority.