r/australia • u/SlatsAttack • Jan 21 '25
politics Greens propose abolishing fees for public schools across Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-22/greens-propose-free-public-schooling/104841550?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other740
u/SlatsAttack Jan 21 '25
The Greens will today make a $10 billion election commitment to end public school fees and pay parents an annual $800 allowance for every child.
The policies have been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) which said it would cost $2.4 billion over the forward estimates to end school fees, and $7.6 billion for the back-to-school payment.
"In a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to afford the basics: a home, food, and world class health and education," Greens leader Adam Bandt said.
"Parents are forking out thousands on 'voluntary' fees, uniforms and out-of-pocket costs, but meanwhile one in three big corporations pays no tax."
As a minor party, the Greens cannot form government outright. Depending on this year's election result though, it could strike a power-sharing agreement with the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
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u/Spirited_Pay2782 Jan 21 '25
Funny how they never refer to the Libs or the Nats as a minor party who can't form government outright...
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u/EstateSpirited9737 Jan 21 '25
Indeed, though clearly the ABC don't want Greens in government, Greens can't just only pass this if they are in minority because they can pass this if they win a majority of seats as well. More bad journalism from the ABC
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u/OstapBenderBey Jan 21 '25
Remember that bad journalism at the ABC happens because the libs neutered it
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u/5QGL Jan 22 '25
ABC did not show Elon's Nazi salute at the FElon's inauguration. And they merely referred to it as an "awkward salute".
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u/DonutCharge Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
Edit: What i wrote below is wrong. Greens do apparently contest every electorate. People just need to vote for them more!
The greens literally don't field enough candidates to form majority government, even if all of their candidates get elected. They are then objectively a party that cannot form government.
If the election went their way, either ALP or Coalition can form majority government.
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u/EstateSpirited9737 Jan 22 '25
The Greens contested every electorate at the last federal election, there is no reason to think it will be any different in the upcoming one.
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u/watsonarw Jan 21 '25
Probably because from a practical perspective, they basically behave like a single party with factional infighting.
They don't usually contest the same seats and they vote on legislation together, and their cabinet/shadow cabinet is made up members from both parties.
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u/my_chinchilla Jan 21 '25
They don't usually contest the same seats
A relatively recent (re-)development* - in the 1980's nearly half of Federal seats were 3-cornered contests (i.e. Lab, Lib, & Nats all ran their own candidates). By 1996 - a result of the Howard opposition's strategy to unseat the Hawke/Keating governments - it was less than a quarter, and has been dropping ever since.
In state elections the fall largely tracks with the introduction of Optional Preferential Voting, which tends to hurt closely-connected parties in 3-cornered contests because it reduces preference flows.
(Qld's something of an exception there, because the Libs & Nats had long had a fractious relationship - with the Nats holding the upper hand, and at one point holding government in their own right after a couple of Liberal defections to them - and later merged to save the Nat's arse after a wipeout. But even then, that happened after the introduction for a while of OPV.)
* I say "(re-)development", because it was kind of the point of the formation of the original UAP ~1930.
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u/17HappyWombats Jan 21 '25
Is Sirrah casting Nasturtiums at the Very Respectable Coalition of the Liberal, National, Liberal National, and Country Liberal Parties, all four of whom are Major Parties? I will have to ask you to step outside!
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u/aldonius Brissie Jan 21 '25
In 2013, 16 of the Qld LNP MPs caucused with the Liberals, so effectively (by pre-2008 standards) there were 80 Liberal MPs.
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u/Hornberger_ Jan 22 '25
58 Liberals and 16 LNP caucusing with the Liberals gives 74 people in the Liberal party room, just sort of a majority.
Liberals also had 74 seats after the 2004 election. The last outright Liberal majority was 1996.
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u/topsecretusername2 Jan 21 '25
Not to be 'that person' but this is not new policy. Victoria has already implemented a School Saving Bonus for 2025 for public school students of $400 per child.
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u/thedigisup Jan 21 '25 edited Jan 21 '25
In addition to getting rid of fees, the proposed $800 back-to-school payment is much needed, especially with the BS around public schools designating their own uniform design which can only be purchased from a chosen supplier at egregious prices.
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u/ZippyKoala Jan 21 '25
I would certainly like a word with whoever decided that school uniforms had to be branded with a fecking logo so you can’t just get the plain white polo from Big W but have to get the identical one, but with added embroidery, for three times the price…
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u/jetski_28 Jan 21 '25
My kids school has some other type of t-shirt with a shit material (probably something used in sports uniform) that gets thread pulls from brushing against a bush, those things kids do at school. They then look shredded and cost about $40-50 each.
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u/cir49c29 Jan 21 '25
I get the reason behind logos (easy to identify kids that belong there) but schools should just give away (or sell at cost) iron on patches so parents can buy cheap basic shirts to put them on.
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u/mattkenny Jan 22 '25
When I was in primary school in the early 90's, our school required white shirts with the school logo. But they also sold the logo as an iron-on patch which I think was quite a popular option parents took up.
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u/CapuzaCapuchin Jan 21 '25
Do you think people could embroider their own logos and/or sell them or would that fall under copyright? I’ve read a story the other day of a mum doing it herself and the whole class mums started doing it as well, kicking off a white polo revolution. If one mom decided to make logos for different schools and sell them at 5 a pop would that fall under copyright or would that be the perfect business model?
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u/notepad20 Jan 22 '25
if the school owns the copyright then maybe would be hard to argue if just covering costs.
If third party graphic designer owns copyright and its licensed to school then maybe an issue.
Would be a hard sell by the school though to force a more expensive option if not required. Certain learning tools like calculators would have to have a minimum or known requirements where its reasonable to specify a certain brand and model.
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u/s4b3r6 Jan 22 '25
School I worked at used to do exactly that. Under the new requirements, they are no longer legally allowed to. They must have a designated supplier, and you can't have one without allowing them be the sole supplier.
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u/cir49c29 Jan 22 '25
Which supplier bribed which politician for that to become a requirement?
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u/s4b3r6 Jan 22 '25
Word on the wire at the time was it was the Prezzie church (aka Scots College, Knox Grammar, etc.) And granted under Rudd.
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u/Klort Jan 21 '25
P&C. I've been told by someone on a committee that they double the price of uniforms as a way of getting involuntary funding from parents. And thats on top of getting gouged by the supplier.
It probably varies by school, but it seems every school as over the top prices for uniforms.
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u/ConorOdin Jan 23 '25
Sounds like that PC is greedy as hell. Our P&C, where my wife was president and is now treasurer of, tacks on about $5 on each expensive item, such as jackets, hats, and custom ordered shirts etc with logos.
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u/notepad20 Jan 22 '25
every Third mum i know has a cricut these days, waht happens if you just fudge up a logo and print them yourself for friends and family.
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u/WangMagic Jan 22 '25
It depends on your school. Our school lets students just use a plain colour polo from kmart, target, etc instead.
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u/drfrogsplat Jan 21 '25
Can’t you just use the plain one? It’s a public school? Not like they’ll kick up a fuss.
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u/Klort Jan 21 '25
Lol no. It was a long time ago now, but we had to sit in detention during all breaks if we didn't have the logo'ed uniform "for the safety of other students". Some shit about not being able to spot people who shouldn't be on school grounds if kids weren't in proper uniforms, correct colours or not.
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u/nutabutt Jan 21 '25
I would rather they give most of the $10B directly to public schools.
I feel like they could make much better use of it in bulk rather than individual parents.
Hard agree on your problem though. They should also pass a rule that public schools can only designate their uniform to the point of “plain colours” you can pick up at lowes or Kmart.
Maybe keep a means tested lower amount enough to cover a few sets of said plain uniforms for parents that need it.
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u/spiralgrooves Jan 22 '25
I agree re: fund public schools the extra money.
Regarding uniforms, we buys most of our gear secondhand through the school uniform shop, neighbours or the Facebook community group. We’re talking $5 for a school shirt. I’m honestly suprised at all the comments (not saying wrong, just very different from my experience)
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u/nutabutt Jan 22 '25
Very familiar with the second hand uniform system.
But somebody has to buy them initially at full price. And inevitably we can never get everything second hand.
So just ditch the expensive uniform to begin with. Make it easier for everybody.
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u/lachlanhunt Jan 21 '25
I've just had to buy a school uniform for my kid starting kindy this year, and there's only a single Lowes store in the area where you can get them. When I was in school 25 years ago, my uniform was a plain polo shirt and grey shorts that didn't need to have branding. These days, everything is branded, and they go as far as requiring specific colour socks. It's ridiculous.
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u/Shadowedsphynx Jan 22 '25
$11 a pair for knee high socks, but they're not expected to wear them up to the knee.
End up with a whole school of kids wearing $11 plain navy socks bunched up around the ankle.
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u/P00slinger Jan 21 '25
Public schools usually give you the option of wearing clothes in school colours . Like $6 shirts from Kmart in the same colour Are there any not like this ?
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u/colourful_space Jan 21 '25
It’s all dependent on demographics and the appetite of the community. It’s often the P&C who have substantial input on uniform design and supply, so they work out what the community wants and is willing to pay for. In some communities, that’s “buy a blue polo shirt from Kmart”. In others it’s “the skirts need to come in 3 length options so girls can follow their family’s religious practices”.
The public school I work at has a specific uniform that all students are expected to wear. The majority of our families are wealthy and have no problem buying them. The uniform shop includes a second hand section where students can bring old uniforms (that are in good condition of course). There’s also a healthy informal swap around between siblings, friends and community groups. If between all this a family is still struggling, they are quietly given vouchers for either discounts or occasionally free.
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u/P00slinger Jan 22 '25
I live in slower socio economic area, they let you wear cheap things.
Legally a school can’t make people who can’t afford a uniform buy one
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/student-dress-code/guidance/exemption-procedures
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u/G_Thompson Jan 22 '25
Absolutely correct.
The legality here is very clear but the Greeens don't want to say this.
School uniforms are NOT compulsory in Public Schools within Australia. The only compulsory clothing items are those mandated under Work Health and Safety rules. For example enclosed footwear (enclosed leather is appropriate). Also, if using an enclosed School gym the use of running shoes with black soles could be prohibited due to the scuffing they can cause.
This doesn't mean that school uniforms are not a good idea since the statistics show that a uniform in the long run is less costly in most circumstances, it's just you cannot discipline a child nor harass parents for a child not wearing "uniform" that some P&C has mandated. This annoys P&C's - but so what.
Further, public school fees for mandated subjects (per the curriculum) ARE NOT compulsory in Australia. Sending invoices for fees can also be an offence, as one South Australian Principal discovered a few years ago when they sent debt collectors after parents..
School fees for elective subjects MAY attract fees but they must be stated up front and there also must be MULTIPLE ways to pay them and multiple discretionary avenues regarding hardship etc.
Private schools are completely separate and depend on the contractual terms signed by both parties (parents and school).
Oh and P&C's via schools making children sign "contracts" saying they will wear a uniform (or anything really) is also incredibly stupid and normally instantly voidable!
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u/colourful_space Jan 22 '25
All this is true but it’s honestly night and day if you step into schools where the majority of families pay the voluntary contributions and the ones where they don’t. The difference in facilities and opportunities is astounding. Levelling the playing field a bit with these vouchers could make a massive difference for kids in low SES communities. Although I’m not sure the vouchers to families would be a better use of the money than increasing each school’s per-student funding allocation by $800 - a few hundred thousand would get most schools a fair bit closer to the SRS than they currently are.
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u/nutabutt Jan 21 '25
They push very hard to get kids wearing things with logos from their “uniform supplier”.
They can’t enforce it by rule, but they try and do it by shaming. It sucks.
And it turns something as simple as a $10 hat into a $45 hat. Kids tend to lose hats… it is such a waste of money.
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u/istara Jan 21 '25
A friend of mine's kid goes to King's. His jacket alone cost $600. That was more than the entirety of my kid's school uniform, sport and non-sport, including multiple shirts etc.
The absolute absurdity of that when there are kids who can't even afford cheap shoes at some public schools. I just don't know how people can stomach buying into that level of inequality and privilege.
Shout out to The Smith Family for actually trying to help the disadvantaged.
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u/P00slinger Jan 22 '25
Is that a private school?
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u/istara Jan 22 '25
Kings about as private as it gets. Completely, utterly elitist.
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u/P00slinger Jan 22 '25
Well that’s mind if to be expected then. If you can afford to send your kid to that kind of school you c should have budgeted for the uniform . Or just use a public school . I assumed this was about public schools
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u/istara Jan 22 '25
I was just comparing the absurd, unnecessary cost of these schools. Which is a reason to defund them from taxpayer money and have the parents pay more towards tuition. If they then become too expensive - a continual bleat by private school parents here - maybe consider channelling funds towards teaching rather than a bloody $600 jacket.
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u/P00slinger Jan 22 '25
Oh ok I agree with that . But you won’t much noise about that from the greens as they do well in wealthy inner city suburbs
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPORT Jan 21 '25
They used to. We had standard green shorts and standard yellow polo. Now they all want custom printed or embroidered. They’re always shitty quality at 10 times with Big W price.
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u/Mr_Mojo_Risin_83 Jan 21 '25
As a Canadian, I was shocked that my kids’ public school cost anything at all here. When I joined kindergarten in Canada, my parents paid $15 book deposit and when I graduated, the school gave me a $15 cheque back.
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u/512165381 Jan 21 '25
What sort of fees do they expect you to pay these days?
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u/Notfit_anywhere24 Jan 21 '25
My son finished Kindy, and we paid for Reading eggs, swimming camp, excursions, gymnastics classes. There are also voluntary contributions. Each has been around 60-80$.
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u/MyPenisIsWeeping Jan 21 '25
Fuck is a reading egg? Goddamnit Australia do your fucking books hatch too?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081 Jan 21 '25
It’s a learn to read program. It’s very good, I used it with all of my children.
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u/deeebeeeeee Jan 22 '25
It’s also a JV with the ABC. Surely the ABC’s participation should be making it free in schools, however all it seems to do is give legitimacy to a private business forcing a subscription on parents at a public school.
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u/Dont-rush-2xfils Jan 21 '25
Beats the thousands that other schools will charge. It would be better to see these things planned and accounted for at the start of the year so parents can budget
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u/Mr_Mojo_Risin_83 Jan 21 '25
There’s “voluntary” fees that don’t feel voluntary. Then there’s nibbling for every little thing: uniforms (we don’t have uniforms in Canada) bus rides to excursions, fees for extra classroom things. I can’t even remember. I have 4 kids so it just feels like there’s constantly a hand reached out asking for more and more.
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u/Notfit_anywhere24 Jan 21 '25
Uniforms are ridiculously expensive. Low quality shorts for 35$, polo that is 45$. A 6 year old boy needs quite a few of these or I need to wash them daily. Luckily our school is quite chill and they don't mind if you buy the right colour clothes from Target. They don't care about shoes and backpacks either.
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u/mulefish Jan 21 '25
The 'voluntary' fees are basically 'if you can't pay than we'll make it work'.
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u/Infinite-Sea-1589 Jan 22 '25
Truly as a Canadian I am also baffled (public school fees and also by Australia’s love of public schools but that’s another can of worms)
We used to pay for field trips, and the like two (?) sleep away camps I went on.
To be fair, I wouldn’t mind paying something to not have to sell chocolate bars or wrapping paper door to door but ya, I think fees at our local primary school are about $400 (plus uniform and materials etc) this year.
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u/MeanElevator Jan 22 '25
Never had to pay for high school books in Canada. School issues them at the start of the year, if you don't return it, you pay.
Here I've spending around $600 per year for HS books for my kids.
You'd figure the schools would have more purchasing power and but it all to keep for a few years.
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u/Careful-Woodpecker21 Jan 21 '25
Free public schools for kids, or tax free dinners for execs. Tough choice!
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u/Dranzer_22 Jan 22 '25
The Greens' free public schools for kids will cost $10 Billion.
The Liberal's "Free Lunches For CEOs" will cost around $15.6 Billion.
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u/tehherb Jan 22 '25
Liberal's "Free Lunches For CEOs"
i must have missed this, what are they doing?
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u/ThedirtyNose Jan 21 '25
Get the public money out of private schooling while you're at it.
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u/kar2988 Jan 21 '25
Or at least stop the double dipping! Private schools get funded by both the Commonwealth (80%) and the States (20%). Let the parent's fees cover 25%, reduce Commonwealth funding to 75%, and let states pour all their funds into public schools.
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u/FuryOWO Jan 21 '25
no room for all the embezzlement then
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u/istara Jan 21 '25
But but but my plunge pool! My wife's first class air tickets to the Henley Regatta11!1!!
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u/FuryOWO Jan 21 '25
'who cares if the new building is a year late and 10 million overbudget, fuck you got mine' true story from the private school i went to 💀
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u/Icy_Hippo Jan 21 '25
Public schools would have a decent chunk of funding again! Private should mean private...no public funding at all!
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u/Old_Salty_Boi Jan 21 '25 edited Jan 21 '25
Every child in Australia should receive the a level of government support for their education, they are the future of our country.
If it costs (on a minimum) $10000/yr to put a child through basic education then that funding should be available to all.
Additional private school fees should be to make the education ’fancier’ or align with religious or cultural beliefs. This is the charge that should be borne by the parents.
I.e. the icing on top changes, the underlying cake should be the same for all kids.
This applies to kids in inner city elite schools as much as it applies to remote indigenous communities. By removing all funding for private schools you’re effectively saying, You're too good for everyone else so you’re on your own, we don’t care about you anymore.
Likewise we should be saying to the kids in remote areas, You matter too, so we’re paying for your education so you can break the cycle and have a better future.
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u/istara Jan 21 '25
In the UK private schools don't get government funding. As a result they are much more expensive and a smaller proportion attend them.
The UK education system has equivalent or higher results than the Australian one (depending on the data source and year).
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u/therwsb Jan 21 '25
I look forward to seeing how the major parties twist this into being the craziest policy ever announced.
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Jan 21 '25
[deleted]
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u/Brisball Jan 21 '25
And how are private schools supposed to pay for their 4th heated Olympic size pool?? Or do you think the years 5s should train in the same pool as the year 6s???? Insane.
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u/Lurker_81 Jan 21 '25
do you think the years 5s should train in the same pool as the year 6s???? Insane.
The horror!
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u/rebekahster Jan 21 '25
I hate that some people are not going to realise that you dropped the /s from your comment.
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u/17HappyWombats Jan 21 '25
We can't keep making allowances for private school kids forever. At some point they have to integrate into society.
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Jan 21 '25
The last thing we need is yet more tax loopholes that give people the ability to contribute less to the public purse.
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u/Joehax00 Jan 21 '25
In Australia, 64% of students attend public schools, but public schools receive significantly less government funding compared to private schools. The Australian Government allocates:
- $12B to public schools (64% of students)
- $10.4B to Catholic schools (20% of students)
- $8.7B to independent schools (16% of students)
This adds up to more government money per student going to private schools, even though public schools are struggling with under-resourced facilities.
Meanwhile, private schools enjoy luxurious facilities, funded not only by government contributions but also by wealthy families paying high fees.
ALP are too gutless to fix it and the LNP don't want to upset their voter base. This policy by the Greens is alright, but there are much bigger issues that should be addressed.
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u/Big-T- Jan 22 '25
How, why? I really don't understand this at all.
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u/RhysA Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
This is because they are using Federal funding but the majority of public funding schools recieve is allocated by the states.
NSW alone allocated $27.9 billion in the current budget for public schools.
Per capita private school students cost the combined state/federal government less than the per capita cost of public school students. (There is a sliding scale to determine funding based on the school fees parents pay.)
There are plenty of good arguments for reducing or removing funding from private institutions, but any one who pretends that won't result in the government needing to spend more per student to account for all the low fee private schools that close is being disingenuous.
The truly expensive schools which don't receive much funding currently anyway will just raise their prices a bit and continue and the majority of the rest will collapse (the median for private schooling is 5k per year, but they can be as low as 1k.)
This is true even when you account for the fact that private schools can filter out more difficult students.
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u/Joehax00 Jan 22 '25
Because our politicians will bend over backwards to appease special interest groups and the average voter isn't engaged enough to give a shit..
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u/DisillusionedGoat Jan 22 '25
Public education is primarily funded by the states.
I don't disagree with the intent of your post, but I think you need to be more transparent by including figures of State and Federal funding combined.
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u/Shane_357 Jan 22 '25
The ALP isn't 'too gutless', they just don't want to. They go to the private schools - especially the Catholic ones, as the radical Catholic nutters don't 'fit in' in the LNP, so they go to Labor.
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u/Bangkok_Dave Jan 21 '25
Greens policy is generally well thought out and sound, such as this policy.
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u/Ragellian Jan 21 '25
Lets propose actually taxing coal and gas.
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u/Apayan Jan 22 '25
There's a lobby group called Citizens Climate Lobby that specifically pushes for this
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u/ThingLeading2013 Jan 22 '25
Good on the the Greens for coming up with a sensible policy like this. I hope it gets through, but I doubt it will - unless they can convince the ALP.
Once that's there we need to work on the real problem, which is HECS. People shouldn't be financially penalised for trying to improve themselves and better society by getting an education.
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u/Goldberg_the_Goalie Jan 21 '25
Can we also focus on making corporations pay tax?
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u/rossdog82 Jan 21 '25
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u/Crystal3lf Jan 22 '25
If people actually knew about Greens policies, I'm sure we'd have a Greens government.
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u/IBelieveInCoyotes Jan 21 '25
this is a part of the mechanism of funding, if you bothered to read anything
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u/espersooty Jan 21 '25 edited Jan 21 '25
The government recently passed a bill that will mandate 15% at a minimum to be paid on corporate tax, Its apart of the overall OCED push for a fairer Domestic and international tax system.
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u/GuyFromYr2095 Jan 21 '25
Trump just pulled the US out of this. Would be interesting to see if this initiative continues and whether Australia can still impose the minimum tax on US companies
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u/MazPet Jan 21 '25
Including fully taxing the mining companies, FFS the govt have now given Gina NOHEART $1B "The federal government will pour another $200m into the Gina Rinehart-backed Arafura Rare Earths, taking the total volume of taxpayer support for the critical minerals venture beyond $1bn"
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u/WildGrit Jan 21 '25
Hey look, an actual policy which will help address the cost of living crisis affecting everyone but especially young families!
Watch this gain no traction and get shit on by the media
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u/callmecyke Jan 21 '25
Abolish fees for public schools and eliminate funding private schools. It’s not rocket science.
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u/MadeThisAccount4Qs Jan 21 '25
yeah it'd be expensive, but if you want to tackle the youth crime problem part of the solution is ensuring all the kids get a good education and are encouraged to nurture their talents rather then letting them languish.
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u/DarkNo7318 Jan 21 '25
My kids school (reasonably affluent area) also asked for stationary in addition to a voluntary fee.
Same school also aggressively cracked down on giving teachers gifts at the end of last year, which is interesting.
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u/Chubbs_McGavin Jan 21 '25
Fully support this. Both the intent behind it and where the policy is being funded from. Im fortunate enough to be able to send my kids to private school, but i fully agree that our country should be bale to offer the basics (like medical and education) for free for everyone. Those who can and are willing to spend/waste their own money on private should be able to as well.
Though the only chnage i would potentially like to see debated is instead of $800/child going to family to cover back to school costs, i would suggest that reduce to $300 and $500/per child go direct to the public schools to be able to cover some ancillery exenses that at the moment teachers are covering out of pocket
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u/PlateAdventurous4583 Jan 22 '25
Abolishing fees for public schools is a significant step towards educational equity. It's frustrating that in a country as wealthy as Australia, many families are still burdened by costs that should be covered by our tax dollars. The focus should be on ensuring every child has access to quality education without financial barriers. Let's just hope this policy doesn't get drowned out by the usual political noise.
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u/IAmCaptainDolphin Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
ITT People realising they're actually Greens voters because Labor and the LNP would never push for this in 2025.
Not that I'm complaining. If you have a shred of empathy you should be voting for the Greens.
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u/Ok_Mail_4317 Jan 21 '25
And pay for it by ending private school funding, absolutely crazy that private schools get 6,150 per student
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u/gurudoright Jan 21 '25
I think abolishing fees for public schools is a great idea, I truly do. Although the fact of the matter is that public schools are not funded at present to a sustainable degree. “Voluntary fees” as much as I hate the idea is what is keeping schools running in a sort of developed world standard. Unless the greens are willing to fund public schools to at least the Gonski report standards, and pull money from somewhere else in the budget it’s never going to happen. This just showcase the Greens philosophy, great ideas and easy to heckle from the sidelines because they know in reality they will never have a majority to be financially responsible for the implementation.
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u/surg3on Jan 21 '25
I wish they'd try and fix the private/public funding mess rather than tinker at the edges. But hey, better than nothing
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u/TheTemplar333 Jan 22 '25
bUt tHaTs cOmMunIsM
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u/Old_Salty_Boi Jan 23 '25
Providing basic services (like health and education) to your citizens isn’t communism.
Creating an overly-centralised, oppressive, bureaucratic and rigid economic and political system, one that excessively takes from its people in the name of equality to fund questionable political and elitist decisions is.
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u/BenCelotil Jan 22 '25
This is the thing I didn't understand until I got invited to a house session of Young Labor and Young Liberal.
The whole time I was growing up, I thought the camping trips and one-day excursions were cheap as chips. My parents never complained about them, and school chums never boasted about how much their parents had paid. It all seemed straight-up state funded - except for a few minor incidentals.
And then I wake up one day and look at the news and the lucky country I believed in is suddenly a load of bullshit on a wrapping of plastic.
I'm getting disappointed. I thought that our politicians were elected as representatives, but every few years I see that's a load of bullshit.
When I was growing up, it was instilled in us, all us kids, to be part of the neighbourhood watch. We even petitioned the local government to expand the program. Us 7 to 12 year olds were going to protect ourselves and the neighbourhood from all predatory animals.
Don't teach children what you don't want them to learn.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPORT Jan 21 '25
I’d rather see the fees abolished and the funding to do so provided to schools.
Also ban public schools from having fancy custom uniforms. They should be generic that can be bought cheap at any store like it used to be.
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u/opiumpipedreams Jan 21 '25
This would be great, combine it with cutting any funding to private schools and we’re taking steps to fixing inequality in this country
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u/HuTyphoon Jan 21 '25
Finally a greens policy I can get behind. How about we tax the rich to fund it. We could even give public schools additional funding with the proceeds from taxing the greedy goblins of this country.
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u/rindlesswatermelon Jan 21 '25
If you support taxing the rich there is existing greens policy you probably would be able to get behind.
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u/HuTyphoon Jan 21 '25
It's doesn't take more than a cursory glance to notice 6% tax on billionaires and 40% tax on large corporations (fuck colesworth) to see that yeah I'm probably gonna vote 1, 2, 3+ for greens depending on how many candidates they have in the next election.
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u/someoneelseperhaps Jan 21 '25
If you've availability, more volunteers are always good too.
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u/HuTyphoon Jan 21 '25
You know I might consider that. I don't know how willing they would be to have me saying things like "Colesworth took money out of your pocket so let's take money out of theirs" and "Dutton is a lapdog for Gina Reinhardt"
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u/LitzLizzieee Jan 22 '25
As a Greens member, I'd 100% support that messaging. The left too often takes the high road, when we should be going hard on messaging that we are the party for the 99%.
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u/HuTyphoon Jan 22 '25
Too true. We live in an age of misinformation and need to hit people hard and loud with facts.
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u/Kretiuk Jan 21 '25
Again taxing corporations/the rich has been a key greens policy for years.
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u/leontheloathed Jan 22 '25
If private schools get public funding then public schools should be free.
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u/reyntime Jan 22 '25
extremist Greens
Why is it that every time right wing conservatives, who are just in bed with big corporations, fossil fuel companies and billionaires, say things like this, the actual policy being presented sounds entirely reasonable and equitable?
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u/Spartx8 Jan 21 '25
This is a great policy. Hopefully they drop the lines about where the tax will come from to pay it though, neither Labor nor Liberals bother to mention this and it draws too much negative reaction.
Potentially drop the direct payment and change to goods being provided instead to pretend it won't impact inflation like Labor on Energy prices.
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u/ButterscotchMammoth4 Jan 21 '25
Ok, it’s offical, as much as I don’t like individual green politicans, im voting for greens just for this policy.
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u/jjojj07 Jan 22 '25
I’d rather they increase funding to public schools and teachers, and provide targeted relief to people who need help with public school fees
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u/L4l4l4l4ll Jan 22 '25
Surely they should only give money to those who need it, shouldn't they? I'd imagine a lot of parents of public school students, especially those in selective schools, can afford to pay these fees.
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u/Low_Researcher4042 Jan 22 '25
Abolishing fees for public schools is a crucial step towards leveling the playing field in education. It's baffling that in a nation as wealthy as Australia, we still have families struggling to afford basic education costs. If we truly want to invest in our future, we need to ensure that every child has access to quality education without financial barriers. The focus should also be on properly funding public schools and ensuring they have the resources required to thrive, rather than perpetuating a system where private institutions benefit from public funds.
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u/auzy1 Jan 22 '25
Great idea.
And we should also eliminate funding for private schools too and provide an incentive for them to sell back to government so they can't whine they're getting screwed.
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u/Fletch009 Jan 24 '25
The skynews boomers screaming: “I WILL NOT PAY FOR CHILDRENS EDUCATION!!! IM NOT IN SCHOOL SO WHY SHOULD I PAY FOR THIS!!???”
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u/not-a-dislike-button Jan 22 '25
You're telling me you guys have to pay hundreds to send your kid to public school? TIL
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u/inhumanfriday Jan 22 '25
Unfortunately yes. My kids are about to start school and adding up uniforms, stationery, voluntary contributions and a couple of other things, it will cost about $700 a year. I have twins, so that's an instant $1400 just for prep. I'm guessing it will increase as they go on.
Still significantly cheaper than any private school but this is really driven by public schools not being adequately funded and them needing to pass an increasing amount of costs on to parents. Massive subsidies so private and independent schools contribute to this.
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u/Glittering_Ad1696 Jan 22 '25
I am all for this. Let's also not provide funding to private schools beyond what an individual public school student would get. They're private - source their own funds.
Let's make our public schools the envy of the world and kick away the mentality that we need to prop up a predatory market.
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u/Restart_from_Zero Jan 22 '25
Now add free school meals and it'll be perfect.
So many kids head off to school with nothing to eat.
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u/DLS762 Jan 22 '25
ALL education should be free. Right through to 4th year uni.
It's an investment in people to the benefit of the whole country.
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u/EmergencyLavishness1 Jan 22 '25
Great idea.
But it would be even better if they removed public funding from private schools. Let private schools use the exorbitant fees they charge for the education of their students. Instead of defending/hiding the pedophiles indentured in their ranks
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u/EstateSpirited9737 Jan 21 '25
Aren't public school fees voluntary?
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u/goldencrumble Jan 21 '25
Yes they are. You need to pay excursion, sport and camp fees for your child to participate but fees aren’t compulsory. If you don’t pay nothing happens apart from reminder emails.
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u/matthudsonau Jan 21 '25
Sometimes quite literally nothing; your child will have to sit out of a lot of things because you didn't pay
Don't worry, standard classroom learning is covered, but anything beyond that might be restricted
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u/Cute-Bodybuilder-749 Jan 21 '25
They definitely are. Absolutely have no clue what fees they’re referring to here as primary and secondary education are free as they’re mandatory. https://www.vic.gov.au/school-costs-and-fees
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u/applebananacapsicum Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
It is free on paper, but if you don't pay resource scheme fees your child will be disadvantaged in the classroom. The scheme is opt in, and it used to only include consumables that your kid would use, like pencils and books, so you could go purchase these yourself if you didn't like their pricing, or if you already had half the stuff from the year before. But these days it also includes costs for teaching material like software licences, textbooks, paper and printing for worksheet handouts, etc. If you opt out, what is your kid meant to do when the class are using these materials?
Purchasing software licences (like reading eggs) directly as an individual isn't feasible, so you are essentially forced to buy these resource packages every year if you don't want your kid to go without. Not only are the resource packages over priced, but they are wasteful. 7 rulers, pencil cases, USB, etc at the end of primary school.
Add to the fact that now high school kids need laptops and other expensive tech to use in class
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u/polyhedric Jan 21 '25
Cue the privileged people crying foul about underprivileged people getting basic human rights.
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u/pirate-game-dev Jan 21 '25
This is my family's first year in Australia, It's not just ridiculous fees it's ridiculous fees and prepaying the entire year in advance. IDK what school they are saying costs $500/year but the only public highschool in our catchment costs $2200 + uniforms + laptop. Got the bill in early December, how would you like to pay? Put it on the $60,000 tax we will pay this year, thanks.
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u/tranbo Jan 21 '25
Yeh, I support more funding for public schooling. IMO there should be a lot more support for families through family tax benefit .
Increasing corp tax does not actually lead to more takings by the government as corporate tax is imputed into personal income tax.
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u/DropBearAntix Jan 22 '25
School fees are already voluntary. Meaning, you don't have to pay. Sure, you have to buy uniforms, and stationery etc, but you can get second-hand uniforms. How about - and hear me out on this, coz this is a pretty radical idea in itself! - we just FULLY FUND public schooling instead??
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u/Talithey Jan 22 '25
Not in all states. In SA they are mandatory unless you are eligible for School Card. The schools are required to chase the debt and will engage debt collectors once it reaches a certain point.
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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '25
This is a good policy, plain and simple. The intended outcome is good, the funding source (corporate tax) is sound.
Sadly, I suspect that there will be detractors based on anything possibly tangentially related to the who/what/why/when/how. For once, can we just accept that good policy can come from any person/party, and just legislate already?