Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Could I make this point to members of the Liberal Party who are catcalling in their contempt for Australian students and the jobs of their parents: the Leader of the Opposition is wont to wander around saying, ‘We should be looking into the eyes of children and talking to them about the future.’ I say to the Leader of the Opposition that, firstly, international studies show that world-class facilities make a difference to the quality of education. In that regard, I refer him to the study of the UK Department for Education and Skills, Building better performance, a report which indicates that school outcomes and the quality of school facilities are related. So if we want Australian kids to get a world-class education today so they can have a fair chance of getting the high-skills, high-wage jobs of tomorrow, then we need to be investing in our education system. And that is precisely what this program does.

I also say to the Leader of the Opposition that, when he is talking about looking into the eyes of those children, there is nothing more important to the future of those children than their parents having a job. This program is about supporting and sustaining employment in this country with a historic $14.7 billion program. I ask the Leader of the Opposition, given that he has voted against this investment in schools and given that he has voted against the jobs that it would support, what his solution is. We know the Leader of the Opposition has no solution, but I was interested to see today that the member for Higgins—who is obviously taking every appearance he gets offered this week—made an appearance on ABC Radio and verified that the Liberal Party stands behind Work Choices. Now we do know what their solution is—

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