THE HON KATE ELLIS MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION MEMBER FOR ADELAIDE

SENATOR SUE LINES

CHAIR, EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT REFERENCES COMMITTEE

EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITY IN THE SPOTLIGHT IN

BRISBANE Only days after the new Minister for Education confirmed he has no plans to reverse his Government’s cuts to school funding, the impact of these cuts on students with disability will be heard at a Senate Inquiry hearing in Brisbane. The Government is linking school funding to the Consumer Price Index from 2018 - a decision which will leave the vital fifth and sixth years of the Gonski reforms completely unfunded. It rips $30 billion from classrooms over the next decade, putting in train a long-term spiral of decline and increasing inequality. The first hearing revealed the dire state of education for students with disability in Australia, with parents and educators telling shocking stories of how children with disability are being trapped into a lifetime of inequity by our school system. The second Senate Inquiry hearing in Brisbane is an opportunity for the Queensland community to contribute their experiences to this much-needed national discussion about students with disability in school. Simon Birmingham has stuck his head in the same sand as Christopher Pyne on the impact of the Government’s school cuts. These hearings are demonstrating the real-life impact on students with disability beyond the Budget papers, and will continue to put pressure on Malcolm Turnbull to act where his predecessor did not. FRIDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2015 MEDIA CONTACT: JO CLEARY 0428 816 751