Greens pledge $800 in ‘back to school’ money for every state school student

The combination of the $800 payment and abolishing school fees would save an average family $2500 a year, according to the Greens’ costings.
Greens education spokeswoman, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, said state school teachers were dipping into their own savings to fund classroom basics.
“When I was a teacher I regularly spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of my own salary to give my students the resources they needed, and I know parents do the same,” she said.
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“Public schools typically get more than $400 from parents for each student enrolled – not because they want to charge fees, but because they aren’t adequately funded.”
The Robin Hood reforms proposed three different taxes. The first is a 40 per cent tax imposed on excessive profits after the first $100 million.
The second tax would be on gas and oil companies, which the Parliamentary Budget Office predicted would raise $111 billion over the next decade. The third would be an extra tax on the coal and mining sector.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers previously dismissed the Robin Hood reforms, arguing that the Greens should support the government’s cost-of-living measures.
“The Greens, their primary task is to make up numbers and put out press releases,” he said in August.
“We actually have to run the place, run the economy and run the country, and that means taking a responsible and methodical approach to policy.”