The Western Australian treasurer, Ben Wyatt, has blamed a controversial decision to cut $64m from the state’s education budget on the opposition National party, saying “you own this”.
In a fiery exchange on Twitter on Thursday, Wyatt suggested to Nationals MP Colin de Grussa that his party’s decision to block a proposed 50% increase to gold royalties and vote against a payroll tax increase had led to the decision.
“The WA Nats voted against an increase in gold royalty AND an increase in payroll tax on our State’s largest companies,” Wyatt said. “You own this.”
And the WA Nats voted against an increase in gold royalty AND an increase in payroll tax on our State's largest companies. You own this. https://t.co/7W8WltG3XQ
— Ben Wyatt MLA (@benwyatt) December 13, 2017
The proposed gold royalty increase was a key revenue raiser in the new Labor government’s first budget, but was blocked by the upper house. It was forecast to raise $400m over four years.
The payroll tax increase gained the support of the Liberal party, which is not in a formal coalition with the Nationals in WA.
WA has forecast a deficit of at least $2.3bn for 2017-18 and net debt is expected to grow to more than $43bn by 2020.
Wyatt said that was due to the “fiscal negligence” of the former Barnett government, which lost power in March. Liberal party leader and former treasurer Dean Nalder said Wyatt had succeeded in “creating your own fiscal problems”.
The Nationals leader, Mia Davies, said the funding cuts, which targeted regional areas, were “disgraceful”.
“The McGowan government has made a decision that puts the needs of country kids and their education at the bottom of the pile, behind unfunded election commitments like [metropolitan rail project] Metronet,” Davies told Fairfax media.
The education minister, Sue Ellery, announced the education cuts on Wednesday, saying the government had been forced to look elsewhere to make savings.
“This has not been easy, but tough decisions have had to be made to get WA’s finances back on track to fix the mess left by the previous Liberal-National government,” Ellery said.
She also blamed the cuts on the defeat of the gold royalty hike.
“This has meant other parts of the community, like education, have been forced to shoulder more of the burden,” she said. “I understand this process is a difficult and challenging time, particularly for staff, and our biggest priority is to minimise any impact on students.”
The cuts will cost 170 jobs and involve closing the Schools of the Air, with services to be replaced by the School of Isolated Distance Education.
They include reducing the funding for the gifted and talented programs at 18 schools by 25%, postponing professional development training for teachers and increasing the fees for swimming lessons.
WA will also close its six state-run school camp sites and the residential colleges at Northam, a farming town in the wheatbelt region about 100km east of Perth, and Moora, about 180km north. The colleges provide dorm-style accommodation to students attending state or Catholic high schools in the area, but Ellery said both had been underused.
Tuart College, which offers bridging courses to help people get into university or higher education, will be closed and Canning College, which offers similar courses, will be limited to international fee-paying students only.
Landsdale Farm School, which focuses on children with disabilities, has also lost funding.
The union representing public school teachers said the government of the premier, Mark McGowan, had broken its election promise to quarantine teachers and school staff from budget cuts.
“These deep cuts to crucial education services will have wide-reaching and long-term impacts on students and teachers across Western Australia,” the State School Teachers’ Union of WA president, Pat Byrne, said.
“A state the size of Western Australia requires ongoing investment to ensure every student receives a quality public education, irrespective of where they live. These cuts hit students in isolated and regional areas the hardest.”
