Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have had numerous meetings. I am certainly not going to mention the name of the person who came in to see me in case he would be dealt a savage blow for commenting as he has. I have recently met with this local teacher, who has discussed various issues in relation to education, and I believe that the teacher has communicated his thoughts and made some very valid points. I want to pass these on to the minister.

The teacher felt that there is a funding parity required for public education, and I am certainly always in support of that. The teacher went on to say that it is not an education revolution if Australia copies a failing system and that the government needs to look at systems that are actually working. The teacher identified areas such as Finland. He said that the government needed to remove high-stakes tests, school comparisons, performance based pay and the view that testing equals achievement. In addition, the teacher said that he had worked in the UK system, which has a national curriculum, and this meant no freedom for individuality. He felt that structuring time is counterproductive and students only apply themselves to their interests. He believed that curricula needed to have space to move to accommodate various issues.

These are the kinds of disturbing comments that we had apportioned to us in our terms in government, but it is interesting to note that the prospect of this education revolution brought out teachers en masse to support the election of a new government. Now the very same people who were standing handing out pamphlets against me at polling booths are in my office complaining that the revolution simply did not happen. I find it ironic and I believe it is worthwhile to point that out in relation to this bill, which is very relevant to the issues that the teachers have raised.

I will go back to the coalition’s Investing in Our Schools Program that has been removed in order to accommodate this bill. In order to accommodate the ideas within this bill, some very good policy was destroyed for no other reason than political gain and political point-scoring, with no thought given as to how important this program was. It will lapse on 31 December this year, and I am sure that in the meantime dozens of Labor MPs and senators will be running around electorates right across Australia taking enormous credit for the enormous amounts of money that have been delivered in both public and private schools for these very important projects like air conditioning, shade and grass for kids to be able to play on rather than dusty bowls and grounds.

Due to the funding from the Investing in Our Schools Program that is still current until 31 December 2008, this coming summer there will be more schools in my electorate of Riverina where, in 45 degree heat, the children will have the comfort of air conditioning and shadecloths to do their learning. In addition, they will have their covered outdoor learning areas to protect them from the skin cancers and the problems that the sun presents across the Riverina, and when it rains they will collect the water that will run off the roofs of those covered outdoor learning areas into the drains down into tanks that we got from the community water grants. It was such a boost to these communities because, before this, the P&C mums and dads had to fund this.

In my electorate, South Wagga Public School had been trying to save for their covered outdoor learning area for around 30 years, and I think they had around $30,000 in their account. They ended up with $150,000 for their covered outdoor learning area and water tanks from the community water grants, and they thought it was Christmas. So I think that the minister has erred most particularly in ensuring that she vetoed what was an absolutely sensational program, no matter who brought it in. I believe that if anyone, whether government or opposition, has a good idea then it is worthy of support.

There are issues that I would like to raise in reference to the public education system. In the last election it was my personal mission to fight for added resources, particularly for public education for the education and advancement of disabled students in the disability sector. It is a fact that we have increasing disabilities in Australia. With the emergence of new technology, the increasing ability to save lives and the ability to save babies at 20 and 21 weeks of gestation who have ongoing issues in the future, we will continue to have an emergence of a variety of special needs in the education system. Quite rightly, mums and dads, families and students want to enter into mainstream education. When they enter into mainstream education, at times private schools have the option of accepting or rejecting a person with special needs if they do not have the resources to offer that child their full potential in learning. In the public education system that is simply not doable. Every child is accepted and every school should have the role of accepting children and providing them with an education in all its forms.

I am terribly concerned that in the public education system there are not the resources or the money available to educate our students with special needs to their full potential. That is an indictment of our society because that is picking and choosing. I believe that parents, students and families, teachers and headmasters deserve better attention to the way in which they inevitably have to deal with these issues when they are underresourced.

I cannot see anything in this bill that includes an education revolution for all Australian students, including those with disabilities. I cannot see anything in this bill that gives intent for all Australian children, because if that were the case you would have clearly identified and put in place a program of funding that enables resources to be applied for children with special needs. Not only do the children with special needs deserve this program but every child deserves this program. What we have now is teachers struggling with children with special needs and spending the majority of their time trying to fulfil their obligation and role, because they have a need and a desire to have all of their students reaching their potential. The danger of having no resources—and this is certainly not the fault of teachers, schools or children with special needs—is that the other children are left to fend and manage for themselves. If there were a true intention to have an education revolution, the revolution would recognise students with special needs and succinctly hive out money to ensure that their full potential is able to be reached and enhanced through their education programs. It is proven that, through early intervention in schools, students with special needs go on to achieve great things in their community. It is an absolute indictment that this bill does not include many of Australia’s children who are also entitled to have an education.

I will go on to talk about the issues regarding the Australian history unit, that have been raised with respect to the bill. I believe that there has to be an option for Australian history to be taught. When I was at school I knew nothing about Australian history except for the fact that Captain Cook landed. I knew all about American history, I knew all about American presidents, but Australian history was not taught in my little Guyra Central School. I really feel that that diminished my ability to understand the issues about Australia. We all know that history repeats itself, as we see right now in many of the things that are happening across Australia. I think that we need to ensure that there is a separate unit of Australian history, particularly the history since Federation in 1901. There certainly must be an identified and complete unit so that all Australians can be proud of their history, can recognise their history and are accomplished to speak about our history and nation building when they represent this country, or at any given time, so that they understand their place and the way Australia has been shaped and formed. I am quite concerned about any move away from the central focus of Australian history. We need to have an intelligent balance between both our Indigenous heritage and the history of our European settlement. I hope that the history curriculum will encourage this to continue. I feel it is very important to maintain the history unit and ensure that it is ramped up rather than dumbed down.

As we move into our education revolution, which is part of the bill, we talk about the rolling out of computers. I am in New South Wales. New South Wales has pulled out of the computer rollout. Right from the beginning, during the election campaign, school principals were saying, ‘This simply can’t work because we don’t have the resources for the on-costs.’ The capital rollout was going to be the least expensive part; it is the on-costs that they were going to be left with. It was again going to be mums, dads and principals who were left to pick up the shortfall. I cannot see how this revolution has revealed anything other than failure. (Time expired)

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