Albanese announces $2.8b schools agreement with Queensland
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The news: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced his government has secured a $2.6 billion agreement with Queensland to fund public schools, meaning he has reached a new education agreement with every state and territory.
The context: The Albanese government has been locked in protracted negotiations with the new Premier David Crisafulli's government in Queensland for months.
The Commonwealth reached an agreement with NSW earlier this month, meaning Queensland was the last hold-out state.
The agreement was announced in a joint press conference with Crisafulli in the Prime Minister’s Courtyard in Parliament House on Monday morning. Albanese said Queensland would receive an additional $2.8 billion for public education over the next decade.
The announcement comes a day before federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the Albanese government’s fourth budget, before the prime minister will call an election for a date in May.
What they said: “Queensland is the last state to agree with the national schools funding agreement,” Albanese said.
“Every child will have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. That’s what aspiration is about, that’s what people want for their young sons and daughters.
“We expect this to support some 560,000 public school students. It isn’t a blank check. This money is tied to real reforms like evidence-based teaching practices, 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 … it represents the biggest new investment in public schools by an Australian government ever.”
Crisafulli said: “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.”
“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.”
The source: Parliament House
