Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Schools Assistance Bill 2008. I say from the outset that this bill puts into place measures which, according to Labor, are designed to bring about better education for our future leaders, but I have serious doubts about many of the key points in this legislation. In theory the idea of an education revolution is an inspiring state of play; but, as we have seen time and time again since the Rudd Labor government came to power, their ability to implement such a revolution has been repeatedly replaced by an embarrassing display of acts which showcase their utter incompetence and absolute inefficiency. I stand before you today to represent the constituents of the Paterson electorate, in which there are over 60 public and private primary and secondary schools. The Rudd Labor government came to office promising an education revolution, yet I am still waiting to see evidence of such a historic event of epic proportions taking place. I am yet to see a mere ripple of such strategic and well-placed activities being implemented, and I know that this feeling is unfortunately not isolated to my electorate.

On entering government, the listed priorities of the Rudd Labor government were improving the quality of teaching, raising outcomes in disadvantaged schools and communities, and delivering a new era of transparency to guide parents, teachers and policymakers in making the best decisions possible, all of which are admirable aspirations. However, having listened to the cries of the constituents in the Paterson electorate and the voices of the Teachers Federation and the Independent Education Union of Australia, the reality is much starker. Instead this list of priorities has been replaced with a list of consistent inadequacies and embarrassing blunders for the Rudd Labor government. Let us take, for example, the so-called digital education revolution. We all heard the shallow promises and cheap publicity stunts resorted to by the Rudd Labor government in the lead-up to the 2007 federal election. ‘Every child shall have their own computer,’ we repeatedly heard Rudd claim. Eleven months on, this promise has been replaced—

See this speech in context