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

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. She is a great advocate for education in both her electorate and abroad. The reason we must invest in the National Plan for School Improvement is that we want to set up the country well for the future. The fact is that education is a great enabler—and I have heard the member herself say that. Every member wants to see support going to the students in their electorates who need it. We also understand that it is not good enough to have students in our country being left behind by students in high-performing school systems in our region. We want to invest in quality learning, quality teaching and more school leadership. We get it.

I am asked about other support for this investment. In fact, the New South Wales Minister for Education was in Canberra yesterday, as I understand, reportedly making a presentation to National Party colleagues on why we need the National Plan for School Improvement. Interestingly, the presentation was headed 'Benefits of school funding reform'. It says that there are persistent gaps in education outcomes that need additional investment to close those gaps. One can imagine it: the putative leader, Senator Joyce, sitting up the front, very keen; the current leader drafting a question for 'Albo'; the member for Calare ripping through a copy of The Land; and up comes the slide presentation, which says, 'Why is the current funding model broken?' because funding does not follow the students with the highest levels of educational need.

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