Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in this grievance debate to put on the record my absolute disgust and despair for the young people of the state of New South Wales in light of the O'Farrell slashing of $1.7 billion from the New South Wales school and TAFE sector. I cannot believe we have actually hit this situation. It is very clear to me as a mother, as a former teacher, as a former lecturer of teachers in training and as a person who understands that our economy is built on the back of a very strong education sector and on the training that it so desperately needs right now to meet the requirements of our economy that, to have a Liberal government in New South Wales slashing $1.7 billion from the sector that drives our future and drives our economy, is penny-pinching and making sure that we take out of our whole sector the most important element. Even Barry O'Farrell's New South Wales Liberal colleagues think he has gone too far. I do know that people who care about the Central Coast, even the Liberal members up there, must be absolutely disgusted at the implications of what this will mean for my local community.

I understand that Minister Garrett has spoken to the New South Wales minister in the last day to express our concern as the federal government over these unnecessary cuts, and I understand he will be meeting him early next week. What is happening here is really not about making savings. This is part of the discourse problem that we have from those opposite all the time: it is about an adoration of money as an artefact, of surplus as an artefact in its own right. What we really need is sensible expenditure and careful management of our economy—and we do need savings, but they should be savings for the purposes of spending that money for the benefit of our country. Barry O'Farrell has made it extremely clear with this $1.7 billion cut that he has chosen to put school and TAFE students last. Their voices are not loud enough. Their needs are not great enough. Their capacity to build the future is not seductive enough for him to want to invest in our young people. That message is completely different from what we stand for on the Labor side.

What is of particular concern is that these state government cuts to schools have been made in Victoria by a Liberal government, in New South Wales by a Liberal government and in Queensland by a Liberal government. These are just curtain-raisers for what Tony Abbott has in store for Australia should he ever end up on the government benches. Whenever a Liberal premier picks up an axe, we know that schools are the first to face the chop. We know that if Tony Abbott gets the opportunity he will do exactly the same thing. It is on the record now that he wants to sack one in seven teachers. We also know that he wants to cut trade-training centres.

In my electorate, we have trade-training centres that are preparing young people for careers involving horticulture. We have invested $700,000 in that. The school and the students have been enlivened by their engagement with that training in preparing for their future. We have put a similar amount, $700,000, into construction at Erina High School. At St Edward's college, in concert with St Joseph's college, just across the playground, we have invested in a trade-training centre for metalwork and for hospitality. I know that one of the young men there, Justin Zwan, is now going to school four days a week and working for Baltimore Aircoil on the fifth day, making sure that his training is aligned with workplace practice and getting the benefit of still being connected to school and learning across a broad range of disciplines in a community where he already feels safe as a learner. When you cut trade-training centres, you disconnect young Australians from their future. You disconnect them from the opportunities that a sound education can provide.

With a Liberal government now in charge at the state level, every child in every single local school across the state of New South Wales and sadly, right down the eastern seaboard, will feel the pain of the Liberals' savage cuts. The Liberals' cuts in New South Wales mean almost 1,800 jobs slashed. Think about that—not just the affected individuals but their families and how they spend in their local economy. In regional areas such as mine, if you take jobs out of the local economy, you feel that pain very, very quickly. The Liberals are gouging workers and students with an almost 10 per cent increase in TAFE fees and a whopping $1.7 billion in cuts. They are freezing funding to Catholic and independent schools in New South Wales, and my electorate will feel that pain. Sadly, this is a glimpse into the future that a Liberal federal government would provide—slashing and burning education.

There is a bit of a double whammy for school funding. Commonwealth funding for schools is tied to state government spending on government schools; so, when states spend less on their schools, federal funding goes down. This is an automatic process that is part of the school funding system that was introduced by the Howard government. Because states have reduced the amount of money they spent on schools in the last year, the Commonwealth has had to cut its indexation for school funding from 5.9 per cent to 3.9 per cent. So the actions of the New South Wales government mean that every school in the country will lose out. If Liberal state governments continue to make these deep cuts to school funding then, under the current system, it is only going to get worse.

That is why we have an alternative plan—because we believe in education. We understand its power for the individual and our society, and our economic future. We are determined to push ahead with our school improvement plan because we know that our economic security depends on our great education system. Claims by Liberal state governments that extra funding for schools is not needed are just desperate excuses for what can only be described as inexcusable cuts.

OECD data released this week confirms that Australia still underinvests in schools compared to other high-performing countries. We know, from our programs on literacy and numeracy and teacher quality, that targeted funding is already making a real difference in students' results.

I have been privileged to teach with so many wonderful people who have given their lives to education, determined to make a difference to our local community and to enable every child to have access to a great education. Sadly, over too many years teachers have had the resources that they need stripped from them and are unable to get the money that they need to purchase materials, additional assistance or particular programs for students. I have had teachers bemoan with great sadness the fact that one child could not get a reading recovery program and another one could because there was simply a line that was drawn. It was not that the need was any less; it was just that the funding was not there.

If we ask people to do the job, we need to resource them. We need to resource our teachers, who are making great professional decisions and assessments every day. But, to be able to do their work, they need adequate funding. That is why our plan is about making sure that any investment in schools is spent on things that we know work, like enabling teachers to really reach their professional capacity, enabling teachers to undertake high-quality professional development throughout their entire career—not just new teachers, although that is a critical pressure point for the profession. We need to be able to engage teachers early on, providing them with adequate support and the opportunity for experienced teachers to come in and mentor them in context and ensure that they are embedded and successful. We need to ensure that, when classes are being doled out at the beginning of the year, new teachers are not saddled with the burden of classes with high needs but rather are given classes where success for the teacher and the students is enhanced. Teachers with incredible experience should be given the opportunity to work most significantly with those who have higher needs, because they have that greater experience. Simple things like that need to be a part of plans as we move forward.

But how can you plan and implement for change if your funding is constantly cut and if you do not have the capacity to be a professional and respond to the challenges in the workplace because of funding cuts? Budgets are about making choices. This government has chosen to put education front and centre and we have made the necessary budget decisions to do that. There is no reason why state governments cannot do the same.

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