Source: Historic Cooma Gaol listed on the NSW State Heritage Register
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much for joining us. And I begin by giving a shout out to all those mums and dads and carers who are dropping their young ones off at school this morning for the school drop off right around the country and indeed for them, but most importantly for the young Australians to come, this is a historic day. Today we reach the point for the first time in Australian history where every student, public and private, will be delivered the school funding that they deserve. The School Resourcing Standard that was identified by David Gonski more than a decade ago. By Queensland agreeing to sign up with the agreement put in today, will change lives because public education changes lives. Public education is what is accessible and available to all Australians. And from today we can announce that every little Queenslander will have a better chance to reach their potential. Nothing is more important in the role of the Commonwealth and state and territory governments than delivering opportunity for young Australians. And it is education that opens the doors of opportunity and today we are widening them. This historic agreement means that every Australian child who goes to a public school will now receive a fully funded education. The private school students had reached the SRS standard previously. But what the agreements between the Commonwealth and our eight state and territory governments have delivered is that every student, regardless of which school they go to, will receive this funding. This agreement with Queensland will deliver an estimated $2.8 billion in additional funding for Queensland public schools over the next decade. This represents the biggest ever investment in Queensland public schools by an Australian government ever. In Queensland, we expect this to support some 560,000 public school students. It isn’t a blank cheque. This money is tied to real reforms like evidence based teaching practises, phonics and numeracy checks, catch up tutoring and more mental health support. Today’s announcement contributes to an estimated $16.5 billion in additional Commonwealth funding to public schools across the nation from 2025-2026, for the decade ahead to 2034. It represents the biggest new investment in public schools by an Australian government ever. And I do want to thank Premier Crisafulli for the constructive engagement that we have had to deliver this agreement. Constructive engagement that’s now reflected with agreements between every government right across this country, every state, every territory, combining with the Commonwealth. On election night in 2022, I spoke about education as being the key to widening those doors of opportunity. What my Government is doing in early childhood education, now in school education, with our higher ed agreements and with Free TAFE, is delivering across the board so that every child will have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. That’s what aspiration is about. That’s what people want for their young sons and daughters. And indeed, the beneficiaries of this agreement today include obviously people who haven’t been born yet. This is intergenerational reform that will make an incredible difference. And I do want to thank the Premier, we’ve engaged constructively in this over a period of months and today we’ve reached what is a historic agreement.
DAVID CRISAFULLI, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: Thanks, PM. It is a historic agreement and today I can confirm that Queensland has secured the biggest investment in schools in our nation’s history. And we are delighted to be standing here with you Prime Minister, thank you very much for the way that you’ve negotiated with us. This means a lot to Queensland and it means a lot because we’ve got some challenges in our schooling systems that other states don’t have. We are the most decentralised state. We’ve got a large portion of rural and regional and Indigenous schools. We have challenges because of that, not just geographically, but challenges that are historically been baked in. As a result, our NAPLAN results aren’t what we have wanted to see in recent years. What this does is give us a decade long commitment to be able to turn the funding shortfall around and with that will come the ability to turn those results around. And what excites me about this deal is it’s not just about a financial injection. It’s also about making sure that we meet standards. It’s also about making sure that we give every child the opportunity to be their best. And we want that and we want them to be their best, whether they’re in the capital or in the smallest of rural or remote schools. It’s important that that money does flow. This is a 10 year deal that will see an immediate investment, but also will deliver long term generational reform that’s important for Queensland, for what we want to achieve. We want to make sure that we have well educated children who become great performing members of our state. And we’ve got a lot ahead as a state. And making sure that we could sign this education deal means a lot to us. And we are delighted with the agreement that’s been struck and we are determined to make sure that the education standards for Queensland kids continue on an upward trajectory. And with that comes the best for our state. Thanks very much.
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll hear from Jason and JP and then we’re happy to take questions.
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: First, I want to thank the Prime Minister. This is real leadership in action. This is a Prime Minister who gets it and who knows how to get things done. Who knows how to work with the states and work with different political parties. A Prime Minister who gets how important this is for our kids and for our future. I also want to thank you, Premier, for all of the work that we’ve done together to get this deal across the line. Bringing forward funding, just extraordinary, sir. And I take my hat off to you and to JP. Absolute legend, mate. It’s been wonderful working with you and looking forward to working with you in the future. This is the last piece in the puzzle. With the agreement that we’ve just signed, it means that every public school in the country will now be fully funded. And that has never ever happened before. It should have, but it hasn’t. Now it will be and it will change kids’ lives. This is the biggest investment by the Commonwealth Government in public schools ever. As the Prime Minister said, it’s worth about $16.5 billion over the next decade. But it’s not a blank cheque. This money is tied to real and practical reforms to help children who fall behind to catch up and keep up. Ultimately help more young people finish high school. It’s bigger than that. It’s about helping to make sure that every child gets a great start in life. It’s what every mum and dad wants for their child and it’s what every Australian child deserves. You know, we know that a good education can change a life and a good education system can change a country. If you think back to the 1980s, to the 1990s, when some of us were at school, the number of kids finishing high school skyrocketed. It went from about 40% of kids to almost 80%. That changed us as a country. Now, in the last 10 years, that percentage has gone backwards. It’s dropped from about 83% to 73%. And that’s happening in public schools. We’ve got to turn that around. Fundamentally, that’s what this is all about, making sure that more young people finish school. It’s more important today than it was when we were at school. This is building Australia’s future in action. This is real microeconomic reform. If we’re going to build the country of our imagination, then we need people to build it. We’ve got to build the skills of the workforce today and tomorrow. We’ve got to make sure that more young people finish school and then go on to TAFE or to university and can build the career of their dreams. And that’s what this is about. And Albo, as a kid from public school I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is going to change the lives of kids at school today, kids that go to school tomorrow, children that aren’t even born yet. It’s going to make our education system better and it’s going to make us an even better and fairer country.
JOHN-PAUL LANGBROEK, QUEENSLAND MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks, Jason. Well, can I also say as a returning education minister, hopefully this marks the end of the education wars because over a decade ago when I was Minister for Education, Training and Employment in a former government, was when we had the Gonski report and we had this constant debate about special needs in terms of what the states had. And as the Premier has mentioned, Queensland does have more of those areas of needs, whether it’s disability, Indigenous, socioeconomic status, small, regional, remote. Queensland has more than any other. And if we’re going to have league tables about schools, then no wonder Queensland’s had trouble competing. But this agreement today really does mean a big change for Queensland. It’s something I’m personally very appreciative of. I want to thank Jason as well for, he and I have had numerous conversations over the last four to five months. First of all we had to do a one year deal and after 10 years of declining investment or the former government in Queensland not putting enough funding in it means that now as a result of this agreement we’re reaching 75% in Queensland, four years ahead of the previous agreement or what the intended time was going to be. So, I want to thank the Premier and the Prime Minister as well. It’s been protracted negotiations but importantly for Queensland schools and I’m also state school educated, something I’m very proud of for in my family that’s made a big difference to my life and I know it will continue for other Queensland students. This is going to have a real impact in Queensland in education and across the country.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks JP. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Has there been deals, arrangements locked in for how fast the states, all the states are going to lift their funding amounts and this announcement today that you said $2.8 billion just for Queensland, your Finance Minister’s announced $2.1 billion of savings in the budget. Is this baking in more spending?
PRIME MINISTER: No, because we accounted for most of this investment is already in MYEFO. There will be some additional investment given to Queensland that will be accounted for in the pre-election fiscal outlook. This is an investment in our young Australians. I can’t think of anything that is more worthwhile than investing in the opportunity of a young Australian and this will make an enormous difference. It has been spoken about for a long period of time, as JP said, people spoke about, the Gonski review occurred under the former Labor government. We then had in 2014 budget $30 billion ripped out of education. Since then we’ve seen school completions decline from 83% to 73%. We need to, in public schools overwhelmingly, we need to make sure that we compete not on the basis of driving down wages but we compete on the basis of how smart we are. And what this is is seizing opportunities. And Queensland does have particular challenges because it is the most regional of states and we’ve worked through all of these issues constructively but we have fully funded all of these agreements will be there. We’ve gone through our ERC processes, the Premier has been through his. But I’ll ask the Premier to comment.
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: That’s a very good question. As part of this deal we have had to bring forward some funding at a Queensland level as well to secure the deal. But so we should. We’ve under invested in public education as a state for too long and this was an opportunity too good to miss. It was an opportunity to bring two levels of government together. But ultimately it’s about kids, ultimately it’s about can we get an outcome for children. And at the moment, when I look at Queensland’s education standards over many years it hasn’t been what it should be. And that’s not because of the kids, it’s not because of the teachers, it’s because of the broken system. And today we start putting together that broken system and outlining a funding pathway but also driving results. And that’s good news for everyone.
JOURNALIST: Just on the schools funding now that all the states and territories have kind of signed on, what will this mean for the educational divide going forward? Because for every public school that still has demountables with air conditioning that doesn’t work, there’s private schools that are spending millions of dollars for performing arts venues with orchestra pits or multi-million dollar swimming pool centres like how will this lessen that educational divide that will be going on?
PRIME MINISTER: What we want to make sure is that every parent, when they make a decision which is up to them of where their child goes to school, that they can have confidence that that child will receive the level of support that they deserve. It also is about making sure that children don’t get left behind. What we know from the testing that occurs is that if you wait until a child reaches the middle of primary school, it’s too late. Part of this agreement and the tying of this funding is for Year One testing, is making sure that if a young person needs that one on one help or small group help to make sure they’re not left behind, they get that really early on, they get to catch up, they don’t get to fall behind and then have issues later on. And so this is an investment that will pay off because we know that when people do fall behind, students, they can take forever or sometimes just don’t catch up. That’s what those figures of the decline in Year 12 completion shows. You know, the Hawke Government made the decision to lift very consciously the level of Year 12 completions from three out of ten to eight out of ten. What we’re doing as a Commonwealth, in partnership with Queensland and other states and territories, is making a conscious decision that children will not be left behind.
JOURNALIST: A couple of years before you got the job, the Prime Minister and the premiers did a deal on the NDIS to try and bring it back under control. They offered the states, they extended the GST deal for another two years and guaranteed hospital funding, etc. Are you, is your state any closer to holding up your end of the deal and taking responsibility for foundational support?
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: Well, of course we’ll continue to negotiate in good faith and I hope what today proves is that we will always negotiate in good faith, but we’ll always look for the best deal for Queensland. I don’t think that’s any surprise to the Prime Minister with, we negotiated hard, but in the end I think we’ve got a good outcome. Good outcome for Queensland and a good outcome for Australia.
PRIME MINISTER: Just here and then, Paul.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve committed to legislate to protect salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour.
PRIME MINISTER: Have we got anything else on the biggest schools announcement? Can we stick to if there are schools questions, if not happy to move on?
JOURNALIST: A school of fish.
PRIME MINISTER: Paul is always focused on the micro.
JOURNALIST: So, salmon fishing, you’ve committed to legislate to protect it in Macquarie Harbour. How will that work and will that legislation have implications for environmental considerations in other industries?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we know is that the environmental science tells us that the skate is at the same levels that it was back a decade ago. We responded to the science to provide certainty. My Government makes no apologies for supporting jobs. That’s what the Labor Party does. We support jobs, but we also support sustainability, which is why we’ve invested $37 million for sustainability, for oxygenation. That’s why we’re engaged as well in what has been a very successful breeding program as well.
JOURNALIST: Some of your colleagues believe that you’ve got a sense of momentum, that you might call the election as soon as you can after this sitting period’s over, they want to head back to their electorates very quickly. Do you want to seize the moment you’re in and call the election as soon as you can after Thursday? And Premier, you’ve had some time to speak to Peter Dutton now that you’re in the job. Do you have any more confidence in his nuclear plan now that you’ve had a chance to look at it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the first, I’m told by my office that when we called this press conference, some thought we were about to call the election the day before the Budget. So, I say consistently, as I have said privately and publicly, three years is too short. I can now confirm the election will be in May. I’ve been saying that for a year. I was advised this time last year, in order to stop tax cuts going forward, that we should call an election. And I ignored that call by Mr Dutton and I continued to govern. We’ve got a Budget to hand down tomorrow night. It’s an important Budget that will set Australia up on the path to a better future. And I look forward to that. I look forward to some policy besides the three that have been announced. The nuclear plans, the $20,000 lunches and the cuts that we don’t know about, coming out sometime between now and May. But we’re very clear about what our agenda is. And it’s an agenda of governing. And what I’m doing today is governing, putting in place these important reforms.
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: You won’t get running commentary from me about policies in Canberra, that’s for this guy and Peter to do. I don’t think Australians or Queenslanders or any of you will be too surprised with who I’m backing in the Federal Election. Of course I’m backing Peter –
JOURNALIST: It’s not contrary though, Premier (inaudible) reverse the ban on nuclear –
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: But it is, it is because I’m – no, it is because I’m here signing the biggest education deal in my state’s history and that’s pretty bloody important to me. And, you know, I’ll let others run political commentary. I’m here to talk about something that matters to parents in my state.
JOURNALIST: On the Olympics stadiums there have been some major changes announced – thanks, Prime Minister – today, or major changes are due. Do you have a Plan B if you can’t renegotiate with the Prime Minister on moving funding away from Brisbane Live Arena to other venues?
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: Well, firstly, it’s been 1430 days since Queensland was awarded the Olympic and Paralympic Games. I reckon if I told you and didn’t wait until tomorrow, I’d probably be in strife from my gallery. But look, we’ve got a plan and it’s a plan to make sure that we do deliver generational infrastructure. And it’s a plan to make sure that we do host great Games when the eyes of the world are on us. And I want people to understand that we – yes, there’s been a long time since we were awarded the Games, but I do believe we’ve got a plan that can get the show back on the road.
JOURNALIST: Premier, have you raised the Olympics in discussions with the Prime Minister?
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: I reckon we’ve spoken a lot about it, but we’ve negotiated well together. I think that’s fair. We’ve worked together well and that’s always my style. I’m on Team Queensland. Of course, there’s been some strong negotiations. Two people of Italian descent, you’d expect that. But there’s nothing that can’t be solved over a bit of common sense and a cannoli. Two cannolis, and I bought both of them.
PRIME MINISTER: And I can confirm that the Premier has, on two occasions, given me cannolis and I haven’t declared them. So, I declare them now just in case I get into some trouble.
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: They were good cannolis.
PRIME MINISTER: We regard that as a cultural thing rather than anything else. And they’re fine cannolis, I’ve got to say. We’re going to go: 1, 2, 3, 4, and then we’re done. Oh, 5 – just got in.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister a question for you and one for the Premier. Peter Dutton yesterday described your energy rebate extension as a Ponzi scheme. His Shadow Treasurer said it was putting a band aid on a bullet wound, yet they’re supporting it. I’m just wondering what your view is of that. And, Premier, can you tell us, are you going to break your election promise tomorrow about no new venues?
PRIME MINISTER: On the first, it says something about the Coalition – I’m trying not to be too partisan here, standing next to the Premier –
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: I’m out of the shot.
PRIME MINISTER: But whether it’s our Medicare tripling of the bulk billing incentive for all 21 million Australians, the 50 new Urgent Care Clinics, the $25 for medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the freezing of the beer excise for two years, or a range of other measures – including the extension of Energy Bill Relief – the Opposition, having opposed all of these things for almost three years, have just said yes. I guess they’ve got to have something to say about policy and they don’t have any of their own. So, that has been their fallback position. But I think that Australians will have a look at their rhetoric and show that their heart isn’t in it. And in the rhetoric that they use, attacking this means that it can’t be secure. The last time round there was an election where the Coalition formed government was in 2013. They said there’d be no cuts to education, no cuts to health. The 2014 Budget had $50 billion cut from hospitals and $30 billion cut from education. And we’ve been playing catch up ever since. And in part, that’s what today’s announcement is about.
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: Well, one day to go, Mark, one day to go. One thing’s for certain, though, is we set about a process to make sure that we could get that show back on the road. And I think even the most, even the most objective person – even the most partisan person – looking at where we are at the moment, would acknowledge that it’s been three years of chaos and crisis since we were awarded the Games. And I’m a big believer when you make decisions, you put the information out. I’ve done that throughout my career and I’ve certainly done it in recent times dealing with the disasters. I have this view that if you provide the information and the reasons behind your decision, whatever those decisions are, I think overwhelmingly people will respect where we’re going. And tomorrow we will outline a plan to make sure that we can deliver generational infrastructure for every square inch of the state. And I think it’s an exciting time and I want Queenslanders to believe that we can deliver something when the eyes of the world are on us that makes us feel proud to be Queenslanders.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, yesterday your Treasurer said it remains to be seen when the next surplus will be delivered. Do you hope another surplus will be delivered during your Prime Ministership? And Premier, when the GST cover was recently announced by the Commonwealth Grants Commission, your Treasurer, David Janetzki, was quite critical of the funding that had been announced for Queensland under that deal. Was the GST arrangements subject to discussions today?
PRIME MINISTER: You’ll see the Budget and all the figures tomorrow night. Not long to wait now. One more sleep.
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: We don’t believe it was a good decision. We acknowledge how it was made, we acknowledge the framework behind it. But we, you know, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t tell you all today that we’re going to continue to work pretty hard to make sure that some of that infrastructure funding is excised from the GST. I think that’s fair and proper, particularly with the Bruce Highway. We were very, very pleased with the announcement on the Bruce, but it is a national road and it is, in my mind is something that should be excise from that GST agreement. We’ll continue to negotiate in good faith. And then there’s that little matter of the flood mitigation on the Bruce Highway as well, which I might go and try and get his signature before I fly back to Brissie.
JOURNALIST: PM, Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs are due to start from April 2. Is the Budget in such a position that it can withstand any economic turmoil that will come out of that? And where is Australia’s negotiations up to with the Administration about changes or excisions of Australia’s trade markets into the US under those reciprocal tariffs?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we continue to engage constructively with the Trump Administration. We were engaged over the weekend again in some of those discussions that have taken place. My Ministers are engaged, our people in the United States are engaged as well. We’re advancing Australia’s national interest, as you would expect.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, David Littleproud says we need more gas in the market, he seems to be suggesting they’re going to water down the safeguard mechanism. Do you agree with the proposition we need more gas in the market and what would you be doing to resolve that? And for the Premier, is there enough being done to get the gas out of Queensland’s south?
PRIME MINISTER: On the former, we’ve announced and delivered publicly released our future gas strategy. That’s a strategy that understands that gas has an important role to play, along with batteries, in providing certainty. I was in Gladstone in the great State of Queensland just last week with Rio Tinto there, at the refinery producing fantastic alumina, aluminium there. And they employ many people, and one of the things that they’ve done is to shift to renewables but they have firming capacity there as well. That’s part of the transition that’s important. The former government had this big announcement when they were there about gas, a gas led recovery. Not much happened. Not much happened. You don’t need rhetoric. What you need is actually investment. What the safeguard mechanism does, like the Capacity Investment Scheme, is to provide certainty for the investment environment for business, which is why business backed the safeguard mechanism.
PREMIER CRISAFULLI: I haven’t seen what David Littleproud said, but if he’s talking about the need for more gas in the market, he’s 100 per cent correct. And have a look at across the states. Queensland, over a long period of time, we’ve done the heavy lifting, we’ve done our end of the bargain, and some of the safeguards that were put in place a little over the decade ago has ensured that communities that were once trod on have now embraced it. And overwhelmingly, it’s been great not just for our economy, but it’s also been great for regional communities to have a sense of identity. It’s been great for meeting the market that’s there. I would argue that other states probably haven’t come on the same journey that we have. And I think if you point to Queensland as an example, that it can be done, it can be done. You can protect the environment, you can treat local communities with respect, you can create some jobs, you can earn a living. It is absolutely possible.
PRIME MINISTER: Last one.
JOURNALIST: Australian doctor Mohammed Mustafa is in Gaza right now. He says he told SBS the situation is catastrophic. He’s asking for urgent assistance. What is your Government actively doing now that Israel has broken the ceasefire?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have maintained our same position, which is we want to see the ceasefire be continued. We want an end to hostilities, we want to see hostages released. We want to see peace and security in the Middle East. Something that my Government is very focused on. We will remain focused on. But we’re not major players in the Middle East. That’s just the truth of the matter. And so, we remain incredibly concerned about the innocent loss of life that we’ve seen since October 7, whether that be in Israel or whether it be in Gaza. Surely people have a look at that innocent loss of life, including children and people who have done nothing wrong but be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They deserve protection. And I want to see that occur, as I’m sure most people who have a look at what is occurring, including whether it be people in Gaza or indeed people in Israel who are saying that as well. Thanks very much, thank you.