Students in Western Sydney will be amongst the hardest hit by Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s decision to cut education funding, with schools across the region to lose $3.1 billion over the next decade.
These cuts are equivalent to sacking one in seven teachers and will mean a cut to the average school of $3.2 million.
This is the biggest ever cut to schools funding in NSW.
Kids all over Australia deserve the best possible education, not to be sent to the back of the class by the Abbott Government.
The impact of these cuts are very real - every student in Western Sydney will get $1,000 less support, every year.
More than one tenth of the Abbott Government’s national cut to schools of $30 billion will fall on Western Sydney schools. Nearly one third of the NSW-wide cut of $9.5 billion will hit Western Sydney schools.
Schools in Mount Druitt are amongst the worst off, losing $270 million over the next decade, while schools in Parramatta will lose more than $230 million.
Our teachers want to be working to improve our schools, not spending their time and energy planning for how they will cope with these cuts.
Tony Abbott must explain why he thinks families in the Western Suburbs should bear the brunt of his pre-election lie that there would be no cuts to schools under his Government.
Labor is calling on principals, teachers, parents and students across Queensland to get involved in National Gonski Week this week, and stand up against school cuts.
Schools funding cuts in Western and South Western Sydney:
| Electorate | Funding lost over the next ten years |
| Parramatta | $231m |
| Blaxland | $211m |
| Greenway | $220m |
| Chifley | $270m |
| Lindsay | $241m |
| McMahon | $228m |
| Fowler | $237m |
| Werriwa | $239m |
| Hughes | $251m |
| Mitchell | $235m |
| Reid | $211m |
| Banks | $155m |
| Watson | $193m |
| Macquarie | $192m |
| Western Sydney Total | $3.1 billion |
Source: Based on 2012 student enrolments provided by the Department of Education and published by the Parliamentary Library.
THURSDAY, 31 JULY 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: LEADER’S OFFICE MEDIA UNIT 02 6277 4053
HANNAH MACLEOD 0437 526 210 (ELLIS)
