Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I just love it when the Tories talk about teachers and teaching because they just do not get it. Since we have been in power, we have doubled the funding in education to $64 billion. That is more than double what the coalition put in. We have provided $16.2 billion in Building the Education Revolution, $109 million for 65 schools in my electorate. We have provided $2.5 billion for trade training centres. The Ipswich trade training centre is already up and running. It is located for Ipswich Grammar School, Ipswich Girls' Grammar School and St Eddies at St Edmund's College. We have provided $2.4 billion in the Digital Education Revolution. As at 31 March 2011 we have delivered 2,456 computers in 17 schools in my electorate of Blair—Ipswich and the Somerset. There are over 70,000 computers across Queensland. I say to the member for Dawson and the member for Sturt: can we have that money back? Can we have the computers back? We would love to have them back and place them in schools in my seat. Place them in Bundamba State Secondary College. We will have them in our Bundamba State Secondary College. We will have them at St Mary's in East Ipswich and Lowood State School. We will have them at Bremer State High School, Ipswich State High School and Kilcoy State High School. We will have the computers. If they do not want them, we will have them.

We know that education is not about the politics of left or right; it is about social justice; it is about increasing productivity in our economy; it is about improving small business; and it is about increasing national wealth. Those opposite have no idea about the prosperity of this country, because they disinvested in health when they were in power. They failed to invest in education when they were in power. Their policy is to strip away the trade training centre program that gives kids in working class areas in my electorate opportunities. Those opposite will take away the computers in schools. If they were in power, there would be no computers in schools.

What was their idea when they were in power with respect to investing in education? When I was elected in 2007, I went around to every single school that I could in my electorate to look at the school infrastructure. Teachers talked about the fact that they would have been lucky if they had got something from the Investing in Our Schools Program. It was one-tenth of what we have put in. Those opposite have no record with respect to education, whether it is for private schools or public schools. They have simply failed education in this country.

What did those opposite go to the last election wanting to do? Let us have a look. I want everyone to listen to this. I want everyone who is listening to parliament or who reads the Hansardthey might be a bit anal like us and read Hansardto know this. Those opposite went into the last election promising to cut the trade training centres, which would have affected 1,800 schools and 1.2 million students across the country. There would now be 20,000 fewer apprentices commencing a trade. They wanted to scrap our apprenticeship program. They failed to deliver any reform to disadvantaged students. I went to the going-away party for Peter Davis—a wonderful principal who had served Ipswich Special School for over 20 years. The teachers who were there that night, at the Brookwater Golf Club, said how fantastic it was that we had provided $200 million for disability support initiatives for students. This is what we did in the recent federal budget. Those opposite failed to do that. Because special education means nothing to them, they failed to invest.

Those opposite opposed the BER programs. The BER halls in my electorate at Fernvale and Esk were the flood recovery and evacuation centres. I say to the member for Dawson that he knows about flooding and problems in North Queensland. He knows about the impact of cyclones up in North Queensland. Those halls provided accommodation assistance. That is where the food, clothing and everything else went. The halls are important infrastructure, and people in rural towns in my electorate know very well how important they are. But I say to all those LNP members who were in flood affected areas in Queensland: they should have a really close look at their conduct in relation to BER and infrastructure. Those opposite have failed not just in road funding; they have failed in the digital education revolution because they are a bunch of Luddites when it comes to computers. They think telecommunications involves a carrier pigeon.

Those opposite opposed the NBN. They know very well how important the NBN is in regional and rural Queensland. They opposed computers in schools. They do not support people with disability. They do not support disadvantaged youth. They always want kids from working class families to stay down because the Tory entitlement of privilege has no respect for those people from battling areas. They believe in divine right to rule. That is what you hear from those opposite: it is hard; it is brutal; it does not support education; it does not support health; it does not support the people who really need it. You hear it when they speak. It is a disgrace the way they speak in relation to education and on so many other issues. The LNP members from Queensland should hold their heads in shame.

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