Even with a voucher system it is important to remember that many parents cannot choose schools, in fact it is the schools that choose parents!.

The elite private schools of Australia, with fees up to $20,000 per year are grossly unavailable for the majority, with or without a voucher system. Federal funding is supposed to assist with the reduction of fees to provide greater access, yet can anyone name an elite school that has reduced their fees in real terms in the last decade?
Schools choose parents, not the other way around.

"The world is diverse - kids will be better prepared for adulthood if they are brought up in a diverse environment."

And that's why I use home based learning to educate my children.

I wonder if I will ever be given a voucher for all I do with them. At present I don't receive handouts or funding from anyone, for anything.

There is more to education, and more to getting an education, than what is found in public and private schools. Freedom of choice CAN make it better - but only if parents realise there are more choices out there than what is touted currently.

What evidence will there ever be that paying 3 times as much (or considerably more) for a child's education will achieve 3 times (or more) the result of a state school education? Seems to me that what folks are really buying for their kids is an opportunity.

Such parents may as well buy their children a lottery ticket - for what children do with an opportunity is in the hand of fate. Buy them a 10 dollar lottery each year, and save the rest of the money for family holidays, family time, family visits, church activities, community involvements. And save the extra time spent working, for that extra amount to send the kids off to a "private" school - - or even your local faith-based school, unless you are genuinely committed to your faith, to the extent of involving your family and your time in its teachings and practices.

And if you are just sending your kid off to a faith-based independent school on the hope he or she will soak up some spiritual values or profit from discipline or develop outstanding higher-order learning skills supposedly unavailable in state schools, you're going to have to pray for results. Good luck!

PS - my guess is that a voucher system for education is a cruel hoax. I would give a proper opinion on the matter, but I only a teacher, and not a qualified political economist.