Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Looking at standing orders is always a good thing to do. Given that the member for Herbert wants to interrupt and take about half a minute of the five minutes I have available, I want to refer to the member for Herbert’s view of education, because it is not only the Liberal and National parties that have arrogance and serious problems when it comes to dealing with teachers. When he first got elected back in 1996, the member for Herbert did an interview with James Cook University. Many teachers I know came, like I did, from backgrounds that would not have been described as wealthy, but they managed to get to university and become teachers. If he is concerned about teachers, I have to say that many of those teachers would not be in the profession if the member for Herbert had had his way in how they were selected. In an interview that was published in September 1996, he said, ‘Wealthy kids are usually the children of wealthy parents, who are wealthy because they are intelligent parents.’ He was making his comment in the context of the debate about wealthy kids going to university. He then went on to say, ‘I am not saying that unintelligent parents can’t have intelligent kids, but by and large the wealthy in the community are the intelligent in the community, and they have intelligent kids.’ That was the view on the record of the member for Herbert.

I do not know why we bother with education generally, why we bother with tertiary entrance exams. We should just ask the children how rich their parents are and say, ‘Your mum and dad are rich enough; you can go to school.’ That was the considered view of the member for Herbert, so if he wants to come in here and feign concern about the interests of education he should first have a look at the record of his own party in government, which was appalling, and reflect on his own position about these matters, which is even more appalling. (Time expired)

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