Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those are very wise words, Mr Deputy Speaker. To deliver curriculum in schools in a modern way, you need modern facilities, and the BER program provided modern facilities for schools. Having said that, there are some schools that still require further assistance with the building of infrastructure so that they can deliver a modern, flexible curriculum that responds to national need, and Portarlington Primary School and Birregurra Primary School are two examples of schools that are old and need investment. Whilst those school communities have very much appreciated the BER investment in those schools, it is incumbent upon the state government to come to the table and help support those school communities in their time of need.

Within my electorate I have many communities that are rapidly growing. The people in those communities come from diverse backgrounds, and they appreciate and recognise the importance of having strong education for their kids. This government has done more to reform education in all sectors than any other government has done since Federation. Our side, the Labor Party, is very proud of that. We recognise that the best way to give a student a decent life is to give them a decent education, and the cornerstone of that is having a strong curriculum that is flexible and creative and enables our students to grow in a way that we all can be extremely proud of.

I am very pleased that a number of schools have come together and made a very strong application for a trades training centre. Indeed, they have picked up a grant to build a new trades training facility that will look after the Coolac, Apollo Bay and Lavers Hill communities. If we want to have a curriculum that delivers strongly for students in our electorates we need to make sure that we provide the facilities that are appropriate to the curriculum, and trades training will provide opportunities to young people. We also need to make sure that we have in our schools appropriate access to computers, because for anyone— (Time expired)

See this speech in context