SSTUWA - State School Teachers' Union of Western Australia

Public Backs Urgent Action on Funding and Gonski Review

Created on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 07:33 Written by AEU

Public Backs Urgent Action on Funding and Gonski Review - AEU

Almost nine out of ten Australians believe there is an urgent need to increase public school funding and there is overwhelming support for the recommendations of the Gonski Review, a new poll has found.

Released today by the AEU, the poll of 1,261 Australians is the first comprehensive survey of public opinion on the findings and recommendations of the Gonski Review.

Conducted by research company Auspoll it reveals:

• 88 per cent of people believe there is an urgent need to increase public school funding.
• A large majority want action on all the major recommendations of the Gonski Review, including the injection of an additional $5 billion a year into public and private schools.
• 47 per cent said their opinion of the Federal Labor Government would improve if they acted on Gonski and 56 per cent said it would worsen if they didn’t.
• A majority said they would be more likely to vote for a party at the nextelection that increased funding for public schools.
• More specialist teachers and smaller class sizes are the most important things the public want money spent on.

AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said the poll showed Australians were deeply concerned by the findings of the Gonski Review and supported an urgent overhaul of school funding.

“The recommendations of the Gonski Review provide us with a unique opportunity to set Australia up for the future and ensure that the resources are there to provide every child with a high quality education,” he said.

“The Review found we are holding our children back by under-investing in education and not delivering funding to the schools and students that need it the most.

“We need our politicians in Canberra to lead the way on this by committing to the extra funding and making Gonski law this year. Our children shouldn’t have to wait any longer for the resources and the opportunities they deserve.”