Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for School Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Banks for his important question and his ongoing contribution to policy in the areas of employment and education. Indeed, this is a very pertinent question because it is really about what matters in this country. Education matters and employment matters. I am very happy to say that when the Prime Minister asked me to assist the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, Peter Garrett, in a very important area of public policy I was very happy to engage with educators around this country because of the importance of the reforms we have put in place.

The government's investment in school infrastructure is the largest in our history. This government has doubled Commonwealth expenditure on school education in only four years. We have transformed many schools, creating 21st century infrastructure, including 3,100 interactive libraries, 4,500 classrooms and much more. It is an investment to enable our future workers and our future leaders to prepare for the challenges ahead for this nation. It is a recognition that we must ensure the best possible education in a very competitive region and, indeed, a very competitive world.

Beyond the educational benefits, the assistance to our economy, insofar as the BER and other initiatives go, cannot be overstated. It should not surprise anyone in this place, or indeed anyone in this country, that it took a Labor government responding to the global financial crisis to invest in education and create employment. This education initiative has supported around 120,000 jobs. Tradies like carpenters, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, plasterers, labourers—you name it—and other workers would be unemployed if it were not for the initiatives of this government. As a result of this action Australia's economy and employment figures are the envy of the world. You have only to look around: 8.4 per cent unemployment in the United States; 8.3 per cent unemployment in the United Kingdom; and elsewhere 10.4 per cent—double the 5.2 per cent figure in this country. That is a direct result of the effort of this government to put in place the stimulus package during the global financial crisis. In regard to the opposition we know that the Leader of the Opposition literally slept through the legislation to support thousands of Australian workers.

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