Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to speak on this important bill, the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment Bill 2006, as the federal member for Ryan. I am delighted that the former Minister for Education, Science and Training is in the chamber, because his carriage of the portfolio was an inspiration to all of us. He ought to be commended and he certainly deserves the warm applause of this side of the parliament. Indeed, I know I speak for all my constituents in the electorate of Ryan. However, on such an important piece of legislation I have never heard such a low-key, downbeat contribution as that made by the new member for Werriwa, who preceded me. I again welcome him to the parliament. I certainly think he will do a better job than his predecessor.

This bill is very important because it is all about our children. Education is an absolute top priority and top-drawer issue for the Howard government. It is certainly a priority for me in Ryan. We all know that having a vital, first-class education system is very important to the individual and to our society collectively. It is very important to the national interest, our future prosperity and the social and economic security of our people.

As the late Big Kev would have said, ‘I’m excited.’ I am excited because this bill does great things for our young people. The bill reflects the very high emphasis the Howard government places on education. I am surprised and perplexed that all the speakers from the federal Labor opposition say they are going to support this bill but they have criticised it. You are walking both sides of the street here. How can you say that you support the bill but then come into parliament and criticise it? You should support it, speak warmly of it and vote for it or you should reject it, criticise it and attack it. You come in here and say, ‘This is a terrible bill; it does great damage to our young people and our education sector,’ but you are going to vote for it. Where are the principles of the federal Labor Party? It is a quite remarkable attitude, I would suggest.

Earlier we heard the Deputy Leader of the Opposition continue this envy based politics that the Australian people have comprehensively rejected and repudiated. The 2004 federal election was another glowing endorsement of the Howard government. The people have said they do not want any of this cleavage between the private and public sectors. They want to get on with promoting the interests of our children and the broad education sector. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition—the alternative Deputy Prime Minister of this country—comes in here whingeing, whining and carping, as she is want to do. It is just remarkable. Someone who would be the Deputy Prime Minister of this country speaks with little eloquence, full of envy based words and criticisms. How utterly embarrassing it would be for this country if the deputy federal Labor leader were one day to become the Deputy Prime Minister of this country. I know that the people of my electorate of Ryan will be doing everything in their power to prevent the Labor Party ever coming to this side of the parliament.

Dinosaur thinking still clearly permeates the upper echelons of the federal Labor Party and its brains trust. It is no wonder that in today’s Australian the shadow minister for primary industries, resources, forestry and tourism, the member for Batman, wrote very eloquently about all the flaws of the federal Labor Party. They are bereft of ideas and any innovative policy.

Conversely, this bill reflects the very strong, innovative ideas of this side of the parliament, which is why the people of Australia voted for the Howard government in October 2004 for the fourth consecutive time. This is a great bill. As I say, I am excited to speak about it and I am sure that the students, the education practitioners and the mums and dads of Ryan will be very pleased that we are putting this bill forward for endorsement.

This amendment to the Schools Assistance Act 2004 will allow for the provision of a record $33 billion in funding to Australian schools over the four years from 2005 to 2008. This funding is for both government and non-government schools, showing that we are not interested in cleavages or division; we are interested in outcomes. I encourage the Labor Party in their misery in opposition to take their eyes off the ball of division and put their energy into outcomes—they might get a bit of respect from the Australian community. Clearly, the deputy Labor leader cannot come to terms with this notion.

While the majority of funding will be allocated to government schools, we will not, unlike our state counterparts, neglect the enormous number of children in non-government schools. This bill provides for three major initiatives to capitalise on the success of the government’s Investing in Our Schools program, which has injected much needed funding into our schools. Firstly, the bill will bring forward extra funding into the Investing in Our Schools program for government schools. Secondly, it will provide extra funding for non-government schools supporting children at risk. Thirdly, it will allow for the re-allocation of funding from the 2005 reading voucher program to this year’s program. The response of schools, both government and non-government, to the Investing in Our Schools program has been truly overwhelmingly and positive.

More than 8,000 funding requests have come through from state government schools and already more than 2,600 schools have received funds from the Howard government. In responding to this success, this bill will bring forward from 2008 to 2006 over $186 million for small-scale infrastructure projects in state government schools. This is a very important initiative and I commend it very strongly. Often the importance of infrastructure is forgotten in our schools, but it can have a fundamental influence on outcomes for teachers and students alike. Students and teachers need to have areas for learning and socialising that are safe, comfortable and supportive. The Investing in Our Schools program and capital grants funding have already distributed much needed funding to many Australian schools for essential infrastructure work.

The Howard government has committed some $1 billion to this superb and innovative policy program. It builds on the $1.7 billion that the government allocated for school capital works over the next quadrennium. Local school communities, as we all know, are forever fundraising trying to plug the gaps that funding from the state government should have filled but of course has not done so.

I want to refer to some schools in my electorate that have been funding beneficiaries. They are schools with which I have a warm relationship. I attend them on a regular basis and have got to know their principals and the teachers. The Hilder Road State School at The Gap has been a recipient of an Investing in Our Schools grant to the tune of $55,000. I had the opportunity of meeting with the principal, Jo Bottrell and the P&C president, Dr James St John, shortly before these funds were allocated. They were absolutely thrilled. They acknowledged the Howard government for its role in the education sector and the boost to the school that this funding provided was something tremendous. It improved facilities for the kids. It is another occasion where the local community and the parents are not again asked to put their hands in their pockets.

The other school in my electorate that has been the beneficiary of the Investing in Our Schools program is the Ironside State School at Saint Lucia, where the funding of $44,551 was spent on refurbishment of school pool change rooms. These change rooms were 45 years old. Important fixtures and fittings were either non-existent, broken or missing. This is absolutely remarkable. I strongly sanction here in the parliament Queensland state governments of both colours—coalition and Labor—for the neglect of the Ironside school over the last 45 years. How can it be that, in 45 years, a school has not had any funding from the state government, particularly since the Goss and Beattie Labor governments have been in office since 1989, bar two years? They have failed in those many years to spend any dollars at all on pools.

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