COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
SPEECH BY
The Rt Hon. W. McMAHON, M. P.
Prime Minister
ON
Additional Assistance for Government and
Independent Schools
Ministerial Statement
[ From the ' Parliamentary Debates', 9 December 1971]
Mr McMLAHON ( Lowe-Prime Minister)
-by leave-I wish to inform -the House
of decisions the Government has taken
to provide additional assistance to both
government and independent schools : n
areas of special need. Decisions taken in
association with Commonwealth and State
conferences over the last 18 months or so
have resulted in a significant increase in
the level and rate of growth of general
revenue assistance from the Commonwealth
to the States. The current expenditure
on primary and secondary education in
State schools has benefited significantly
from these arrangements and the Government
is convinced that additional assistance
in that area would not be justified. However,
the States have not been able to allocate
as much as they would -have liked from their
available capital funds for primary and
secondary school buildings. They speak of
problems including the provision of additional
classrooms and associated facilities
and the replacement of outmoded and
cramped accommodation.
We have decided that it would be desirable
to assist the States to increase their
capital expenditure in respect of primary
and secondary schools. We have given very
careful thought to the form in which we
should provide this assistance and we have
decided that the best approach would be to provide this assistance by way of additions
to the interest-free capital grants
which the Commonwealth is making to the
States as part of their annual works and
housing programmes, and as a substitute
for loan raisings. These capital grants are
being paid for the purpose of assisting the
States to finance non-productive capital
works, without incurring debt charges on
the funds used. However, as these grants
are being made in recognition of the need
expressed by the States for additional capital
expenditure in primary and secondary
schools, we would expect them to be so
used by the States. We would prefer that
science laboratories and libraries in
secondary schools, for which there are
existing special purpose grants, be excluded
from these grants.
The additional grants will also be paid
entirely without any matching conditions
attached to them. I should add that the
Commonwealth expects that the States will
continue with their own planned levels of
expenditure in this area so that these grants
will represent a net addition to the facilities
in government schools. The amount of the
additional grants will be $ 20m of which part
will be paid in the remainder of this financial
year and part in 1972-73. They will be
distributed between the States in proportion
to the capital grants presently being received
by them, which in turn are distributed in
the same way as the States' Loan Couqcil
borrowing programmes for works and
housing. The additional grants will be
amalgamated into the basic capital grants
for the purpose of determining the proportion
of the works and housing programme
that the grants Will represent in future years.
The amount that each State will receive on
the basis indicated is as follows: New South
Wales, $ 6.36m; Victoria, $ 5.10m; Queensland,
$ 2.53m; South Australia, $ 2.74m;
Western Australia, $ l. 87m; and Tasmania.
$ 1 .40m-a total of $ 20m. I have written to
the Premiers inviting them to agree to
accept these grants on the basis I have
outlined. Since 1969 running costs of government
schools have risen by at least 30 per cent
to 40 per cent and even more in some
cases and it is now costing over $ 300 a year
to educate a child in a government primary
school and over $ 500 a year to educate a
child in a government secondary school.
The general financial assistance grants from
the Commonwealth represent about one half
of the State's current Budget expenditure
and on this basis it can be said that the
Commonwealth is supporting approximately
one half of the increased expenditure by the
States on primary and secondary schools.
The independent schools have received additional
assistance from the States, but they
are facing increasing difficulties in their
efforts to provide adequate facilities for a
reasonable proportion of the school-going
population. Many of the independent
schools have been paying their teachers
salaries at rates significantly lower than
those paid in government schools. However,
there is now a number of awards
which require these salaries to be increased
to full parity with the operative rates in
government schools over a short period.
This development has resulted in relatively
greater increases in costs in the independent
schools than in the government schools. The
independent schools have limited capacity
to charge higher fees and collect other
income, and for boarding schools there are
additional difficulties arising from the downturn
in rural activity. The combination of
these factors has resulted in a continued
drift in enrolments to government schools.
The need for immediate additional
assistance to independent schools in emphasised by the following current developments.
The Roman Catholic authorities in Melbourne
are considering seriously a proposal
not to expand secondary schools but to concentrate
resources in primary schools. In
Tasmania a number of Roman Catholic and
other independent schools are faced with
the prospect of having to cease operations.
The Government hopes that a contraction
would not be necessary in either area.
As a further measure of assistance to the
independent schools, the Government has
decided to increase the rates of the annual
per capita grants to both primary and
secondary independent schools throughout
Australia. These grants were first made
available from the, beginning of 1970 at
annual rates of $ 35 per head in primary
schools and $ 50 per head in secondary
schools. These rates will be increased to
$ 50 per head in primary schools and $ 68
per head in secondary schools from the
beginning of 1972. These additional per
capita grants to independent schools in the
States are expected to cost $ 9.7m in 1972
of which half, that is $ 4,850,000 will be
payable during the financial year 1971-72.
The amount in each State will be approximately:
New South Wales, $ 3.58m; Victoria,
$ 3.14m; Queensland, $ 1.46m; South
Australia, $ 600,000; Western Australia,
$ 700,000; and Tasmania, $ 220,000-a total
of $ 9.70m.
Independent schools in the Australian
Capital Territory and the Northern Territory
share in the per capita grants which
the Commonwealth makes available to
independent schools in the States. They also
receive a local component in their per
capita grants broadly equivalent to those
paid * by the State governments to independent
schools in the States. In addition
to the increases I have already mentioned,
the local component in the annual per
capita grants to independent schools in the
2 Territories will be increased from the
beginning of 1972. The increases will be
from $ 20 to $ 35 per head in primary
schools and in secondary schools from
$ 30 to $ 45 in forms 1 and 2, from $ 40 to
$ 45 in forms 3 and 4, and from $ 45 to
$ 50 in forms 5 and 6. The increased grants
to independent schools in the Australian
Capital Teritory and the Northern Territory
are expected to cost $ 347,000 in 1972
of which $ 173,000 will be payable during
the financial year 1971-72. The Government
will introduce appropriate legislation
covering these measures during the autumn
session of the Parliament next year.
My Government will continue to cooperate
with the States in measures both
direct and indirect to expand and improve
education services in government schools.
Our policy for the independent schools is
that, relying on their own efforts and with
assistance from governments, they should
be able to continue to provide places at a
reasonable standard for that proportion of the school population which in the past has
sought education in non-government
schools. The action we are now taking is a
further indication of our determination to
assist those directly concerned to improve
the standards in all types of schools. I
present the following paper:
Additional Assistance for government and
independent schools-ministerial statement,
9th December 1971.
Motion ( by Mr Swartz) proposed:
That the House take note of the paper.
20001/ 71W. 0. MURRAY. ioernment Prtnter. Canberra