Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be speaking on this private member's motion, as providing educational opportunities to students living in our regions is vitally important. But the fact is that the Turnbull Liberal-National government has failed to properly invest in education, and it has failed to ensure that students—particularly our regional students—are properly trained and ready for the jobs of the future. In regional areas, it is the National Party that has failed the students of country areas. As I often say, 'National Party choices hurt,' and their plans to cut education funding have really hurt regional, rural and remote areas.

We know that education can make a real difference and bring real change to an individual's life. It can open the door to jobs and opportunities and, for our country, it builds prosperity and a secure economy. When we look to all levels of education—whether it is schools, universities or TAFEs—this government has repeatedly cut funding and repeatedly failed those students. In contrast to this, Labor believes in properly investing in our education system. In terms of the cuts to education, as I say, it will be particularly hard for those regional, rural and remote students. Make no mistake about it, the government's plans for $100,000 university degrees mean that young people from the country just will not be able to go to university. I have families tell me this all the time.

The government's secret plans to take over vocational education will be a disaster for TAFE. This comes on top of their cuts of almost $2.5 billion from skills and training, including $1 billion from apprenticeship programs. When it comes to schools, this government just has one policy—that is, to rip $30 billion out of funding for our schools—$30 billion out of our classrooms. I talked about National Party choices hurting; well, the $30 billion really hurts. It especially hurts in country areas. The government's $30 billion cuts to all Australian schools completely destroys the needs-based funding model. It totally destroys it. Let us have another look at some of those government cuts and what they actually mean. Those cuts mean an average cut of $3.2 million per school—the same as sacking one in seven teachers. They mean less individual support. They mean fewer subject choices. They mean less support for students with disabilities. They mean that literacy and numeracy programs are cut. And they mean less training and support for our teachers.

Let us just stop for a minute and look back to the last election, when we had all of those Liberal and National Party candidates running around promising everyone, 'no cuts to education'. They all said it. And they said, 'We have got an "absolute unity ticket" when it comes to school funding.' That was their pre-election promise. And in my area—all up and down the New South Wales North Coast; in all those seats—all those National Party candidates were saying exactly that. They said, 'No cuts to education.' This really shows they cannot be trusted, because what happened when they got into government? As soon as they got in, that is exactly what they did—they cut all of that funding to education. So it turned out to be a broken promise—just another lie; just something they said in the lead-up to the election. To see how harsh the cuts are, I will give an example from my electorate that shows how severe the impact on my schools will be. The Liberal-National government's school cuts will rip $176 million out of the Richmond electorate over the next 10 years. This just means those kids will not get the opportunities they deserve.

Education is not just a policy about equity and fairness. It is also a plan for economic growth. Only Labor has a plan to properly invest in education. Labor's Your Child. Our Future plan represents the most significant improvement in schools in Australia for two generations. We believe every child should have the same chance at succeeding in school, no matter what their background, no matter where they live—even if it is in rural, remote or regional Australia. Your Child. Our Future means the Gonski funding and reforms will be delivered on time and in full. This reverses the very harsh Turnbull government cuts. Our plan will see an additional investment in our education system of $4.5 billion for years five and six of the Gonski reforms, and will provide more than $37 billion over the decade. This investment will see every child in every school funded on the basis of need, and it will be a permanent improvement to our schools system. It will be a massive benefit to regional schools. Specifically, the plan ensures a very strong focus on every single child's needs, much more attention for individual students, better trained teachers, more targeted resources, better equipped classrooms and more support for students with special learning needs—all very important needs-based funding and, most importantly, for those kids in rural, remote and regional areas.

When I look to my electorate of Richmond, this means that every student in every school will get the support they need to reach their full potential under our plan. It is so important that those children can do that, because they are being denied that at the moment with the Turnbull Liberal-National government's harsh cuts. The government are making it harder for kids from the country to access education, whether it is at primary school, secondary school, TAFE or university. When it comes to regional Australia, when it comes to remote Australia and when it comes to rural Australia, only Labor will invest in schools. In contrast, the Turnbull Liberal-National government will just keep cutting. At every chance they get they will cut education funding.

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