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).
Tight polls are showing a minority government is a possibility and the Greens would have greater influence in the next parliament if the ALP needed its votes to form a majority.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said public schools were underfunded. (Ian Cutmore (ABC News))
After the 2010 election the Greens entered into a power-sharing agreement with the Julia Gillard-led Labor government.
“In the last shared power parliament, the Greens saved families thousands by getting dental into Medicare for kids, and now we want more relief for people doing it tough,” Mr Bandt said.
The Greens’ potential partners in government appeared to pour cold water on the proposal.
“Our tax cuts are providing real cost-of-living relief for families with children going back to school this year,” Education Minister Jason Clare said.
“For someone on $80,000, they are getting a tax cut of $1,679. More than double what the Greens are proposing.
“We are also working with states and territories to get all public schools on a path to full and fair funding.”
The Opposition’s Shadow Education Minister Senator Sarah Henderson said the policy was economically reckless.
“Labor’s cost-of-living crisis is hitting Australian families hard including with back to school costs, but its clear that any power sharing deal with the extremist Greens places our country at even greater risk,” Ms Henderson said.
There are also questions about how the policy would be paid for.
The Greens are proposing to fund the new spend by introducing a super profits tax on large corporations, a policy opposed by the government and business groups.
How much do ‘free’ public schools actually cost?
The independent PBO, which assesses the impact of new policies on the budget bottom-line, projects parents will be paying an average of $441 a year by mid-2026 — the proposed start date.
“Public school should be free, but families are having to dig deeper and deeper as fees have increased and the cost of uniforms, school supplies and education technology has soared,” Senator Penny Allman-Payne, the Greens schools spokeswoman, said.
The PBO noted the payment may not cover all costs, with extra-curricular activities like excursions sometimes an additional expense.
It also noted schools were run by states and territories and the Commonwealth would need to negotiate an arrangement with them.
The Greens also propose an additional funding of $2.4 billion over the forward estimates to public schools. (ABC News: Cason Ho)
The Greens are proposing to start this policy in the middle of the year with a half payment of $400 to families for each child attending a public school.
From 2026, parents would then receive the full annual $800 payment which would be administered by Services Australia.
The Greens said the money is for parents to buy school uniforms and to contribute to other increasing costs like iPads and laptops.
“Families here care deeply about their local public schools, but at the moment it’s getting harder and harder to afford even a public education,” Greens MP for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather said.
The Greens defended excluding private school parents, many of whom attend low-fee schools, from the back-to-school allowance.
“Private school parents make a decision to send their kids to private school. We think public education is really important,” Senator Penny Allman-Payne said.
“We hope that this will encourage more families, particularly those who are doing it tough, to send their kids to the local public school.”
The allowance is by far the most expensive part of the Greens schools’ policies with the PBO estimating the policy will cost $7.6 billion across the forward estimates.
“With the introduction of this policy, the average family that has two kids in school will be around about $2,500 a year better off,” Ms Allman-Payne said.
The proposal would see parents receive an annual payment of $800 per child. (ABC News: Elise Pianegonda)
Inflation and the Reserve Bank likely to be a challenge
While parents have been increasingly frustrated by school fees in a cost-of-living crisis there is debate over whether government spending is keeping interest rates high.
The RBA has frequently cited persistent inflation in its decision not to lower rates, and it’s this backdrop that the Greens’ big-spending proposal will be scrutinised against.
The federal opposition has said government spending is driving interest rates, leaving families with impossibly high mortgages.
“The Greens’ schools policy is inflationary and economically reckless and says nothing about the importance of investing in the basics like explicit teaching,” Ms Henderson said.
The Greens defended its policy blaming other factors for high inflation.
“It’s not average people who are causing the inflation crisis. We know that we’ve got inflation because of supply side shocks, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and we’re also seeing persistent price gouging,” Ms Allman-Payne said.
