Schools funding in Australia needs to be reformed to reflect a genuine needs based model, but that can’t be done by cutting funding across the country, the Australian Greens have said in response to today’s announcement from the government.

“We'll look at the detail of this announcement, but what we know is that Australia’s school funding system is broken,” the Greens’ education spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“It's time our children's education was prioritised in Australia. It’s a sad reality that many of our kids are being left behind.

The Australian Greens will vote against the Government’s assault on students and young people in its cruel university funding model.

“By investing less in education and more in coal, this Government is screwing over Australian students and young people, yet again,” Greens education spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens are concerned that, in the lead up to the Federal Budget, the government’s loyalties seem to lie with property investors and foreign owned mining companies over Australian university students.

“Cutting a billion dollars from our universities while driving up fees for students is a regressive, unfair and stupid idea,” the Greens’ education and finance spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens have slammed the Turnbull Government for its planned attack on Australian university students in the 2017 budget.

“This is Malcolm Turnbull shaping up for a 2017 Budget that is an all-out assault on students. The Government is doing nothing about the tax rorts for wealthy investors, pushing up house prices and making rent more expensive, and now they’re hitting students with $100,000 degrees,” Greens education and finance spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens have pledged to use their power in the Parliament to protect Australia's higher education sector from any further funding cuts ahead of the Turnbull government's budget in May. 

"We are putting the Government on notice that we will not accept any more nasty cuts to our universities and tertiary institutions," Greens education and finance spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens are calling on the NAPLAN testing model to be reviewed following the latest flaw, a failed online roll-out, and reports that testing causes anxiety among students.

The Australian Greens have slammed the Government’s plans to hit university students with higher fees and force graduates to pay their HELP/HECS back on a much lower income in a move that will price young people from low income families out of a university education.

The Australian Greens have announced that they will vote down the government’s childcare package if it refuses to commit to guaranteeing vulnerable Australian families a minimum of 15 hours of subsidised care per week.

“This is about fairness and giving all Australian children the start in life that they deserve,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

“We have a chance at securing meaningful, positive change to the childcare sector here, but only if the government allows the Senate to fix their bill.

The Australian Greens stand in solidarity with the thousands of childcare workers striking this afternoon to highlight the low wages they receive for the important task of providing care and education to Australian children.

“Early childhood educators are grossly underpaid for the valuable work they do. They teach, nurture and guide children in one of the most important phases of their learning life,” Greens education spokesperson Senator Hanson-Young said.

The Senate has called on Federal Education Minister to explain which South Australian schools are set to suffer as a result of the 2018 Gonski funding cliff, following an Australian Greens motion passing this afternoon.

“Schools across South Australia set to lose out on $335 million in funding as the Government carelessly heads toward the Gonski funding cliff next year. Education Minister Simon Birmingham needs to face up to the fact that schools in his state will face losing teachers and programs,” Australian Greens education spokesperson Senator Hanson-Young said.