Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Banks for that question because we think that investing in education is the most important investment that a nation can make. We know that education is the great enabler. For young Australians to live a successful and happy life the quality of their education will count. For us to have young Australians who are well educated and get high-paid, high-skilled jobs in the future will contribute to our national prosperity over time.

Education has been front and centre of this government's agenda and remains there. Look at what we have done already. For the first time we have a national curriculum. For the first time there will be over one million students sitting NAPLAN today, national testing in literacy and numeracy. We have the MySchool website and have improved facilities in every school in the country, especially focusing effort on the things that we know count in the school and in the classroom. That is about teacher quality and making sure our kids are learning to read and do their maths well at an early age.

But we know there is more to do. The Gonski panel, who looked at school funding, provided us with a set of recommendations that said that we need to fund schools on a basis that is fair and on a basis that is effective. We have accepted the thrust of those recommendations and we have a National Plan for School Improvement, with the goal to have Australia in the top five education nations in the world by 2025. We are backing that plan with effectively a '$2 from the Commonwealth and $1 from the state' investment that would see some $14.5 billion in additional funding exercised and spent over time to make sure that every student, no matter where they live and no matter how much money their parents earn, is getting the education that they need.

I am asked about how the National Plan for School Improvement has been received. The fact is it has been received very positively. I can hardly find a person in the country who thinks and cares about education who has not been positive about this reform—teachers, parents and the business community. New South Wales, as the Prime Minister has said, have agreed in the interests of their students that the National Plan for School Improvement is something that they want to be a part of. In fact, the New South Wales Premier said:

… it provides additional resources, fairer distribution, to deliver higher standards and better outcomes …

I do not agree with everything that Premier O'Farrell says or does, but on this count I think he got it right. The only negative voices we have heard are from the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister. The Leader of the Opposition thinks that increasing investment to public education is an injustice. They will not support this national plan for the nation's future.

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