The federal election was just called, but already Peter Dutton has signalled that he would attack public education if elected.
During a segment on Sky News this week, he said that under his lead there would be “conditions on our funding” to state governments for education if schools teach what he terms “indoctrination”. He also questioned the role of the Federal Department of Education, warning that jobs may be cut – but refused to say how many jobs will go from the Department under his proposed 41,000 public sector job cuts.
This is not an education policy – this is a destructive attack on public school teachers and schools.
We’ve seen ideological attacks on the teaching profession before. Peter Dutton is not the only culprit.
Watch this video to see who else is trying to undermine public education.
Let’s be clear – in three years as Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton has never once supported the full funding of public schools. Not once has he said he would lift the government’s Schooling Resource Standard share from 20% to a minimum of 25%, as the Albanese Government has committed to.
In 2013, the Coalition promised to honour Gonski agreements then ripped them up and cut $30 billion from schools in the 2014 budget. We cannot let that happen again.
Public schools can’t risk a Dutton government. Share this video now to make sure every voter knows what’s at stake.
In hope,
Correna Haythorpe
AEU Federal President