Comment on Australian students shun education degrees as fears grow over ‘unprecedented’ teacher shortage
morry040@kbin.social 9 months agoWe shouldn't concede that the public has to pay more to fix this problem. We just need to pressure our government representatives to prioritise funding for education above that of other areas.
The average teacher makes $84,810 per year.
It is estimated that there are 307,041 full time teachers.
This equates to a full teacher salary budget of $26B. We know that education is managed at the state level, but let's just experiment with a scenario whereby the federal government decides to provide a funding boost to salaries. Giving all teachers a 25% pay rise would cost $6.5B per year.
How much was the 2023 budget surplus just recently announced by the government? $22B.
So, the government could have covered a 25% pay increase to all teachers in Australia, using a third of the surplus that they realised in this year's budget.
Ok, that's for one year, but what about future years, you might ask...
Well, how about we take some of the funding from the scrapping of Stage 3 tax cuts. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that the cost of the Stage 3 tax cuts will be $313B over a decade ($31.3B per year). Those tax cuts could even be watered down so that they don't impact lower incomes. The top 20% of income earners in the country receive 73% of the benefit from those tax cuts.
Let's only have tax cuts for the bottom 80% of income earners. That would still give us $22.8B per year in extra budget that we allocate to education. It's that simple.
Cypher@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Stage 3 tax cuts are an idiotic and election losing thing to target. There’s a reason Labor aren’t touching it and refuse to talk about canceling stage 3.
I will riot if I end up getting taxed more while multinational corporations continue to pay zero tax.
BNE@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 months ago
Piss off - it’s absolutely moronic policy. Yes, give teeth to attack multinationals, but tax millionaires, ffs. I’m tired of hearing about new tax loopholes for people who’ve never struggled a day in their lives - corporate or civilian.
Stage 3 is theft.
samson@aussie.zone 9 months ago
I agree completely. At some point you have to draw the line. Labor should go all out ad wise, fuck off stage 3 and tell everyone the deal. If we are to lose an election over it then we’re fucked as a country, so much money our country desperately needs that we are pissing into the wind.
Cypher@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Lets be clear; stage 3 will impact me to the tune of $9k a year.
I didn’t get free, or even cheap University.
I didn’t get any student benefits.
I didn’t get any child bonus.
I have collected a total of 4 months of unemployment benefits from Centrelink in my life, when I have worked since I was 15.
Never struggled? Cunt I have had to choose between milk or rice because rent was due and I was earning five tenths of fuck all while working as a student and getting no support.
Stage 3 tax cuts are literally the first fucking break I will get in my working life.
You reckon only “millionaires” who are millionaires by assets not income will benefit. What a joke.
I am a hard working professional and anyone targetting my pocket before multi-national corporations or fuckwit boomers with 6 properties have to pay their share can get fucked.
BNE@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 months ago
This boils down to “fuck you, got mine”.
That money is our clapped out health system. That money is our clapped out education system. That money is rebuilding towns from the next season of bushfires - hell, maybe they’ll work in some climate resistant infrastructure. That money is land management. That money is research for the CSIRO. That money is social housing.
That money is department funding to go after multinationals.
That money is stopping someone else from needing to put up with the bullshit of food scarcity you did.
This isn’t America and thank fuck. If we stop spending, it falls apart and we’ve been putting off maintaining our society for decades now. Grow and stop seeing the bullshit you went through as validation to put others through worse.
trk@aussie.zone 9 months ago
I’ve collected none, therefore my opinion is worth more than yours since I’ve received less assistance.
I am all for the stage 3 tax cuts, because I know that the money I get from the tax cut will be more than offset by the ever increasing costs of living - including the social cost of having more and more people struggling.