Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

This week we have seen something that is long overdue and quite unusual. This week we have actually seen a couple of members opposite express that they care about what happens in our classrooms and that they have some concerns about the challenges that are facing our schools. Unfortunately, the members opposite have failed to identify what is the biggest challenge that is facing the Australian school system—that is, this government's policies. If those members opposite really cared about the education that Australian children are receiving, we would hear them speaking up, we would hear them speaking up more often, and we would hear them speaking up about the fact that their own government intends to rip $30 billion out of Australia's school education system. We know that they are cuts that will have a savage impact on every school's ability to improve literacy and numeracy in the classroom. We know that the greatest challenge to Australia's education system is improving to become world class in spite of the fact that this government is intent on delivering the biggest cuts to school government funding in Australia's history.

The simple fact is that the Prime Minister can talk as much as he likes about innovation. He can talk as much as he likes about how important innovation is for Australia's future. But the simple reality is: we cannot be an innovative nation of the future without investing in ensuring that we have a world-class school education system. Whilst the Prime Minister likes to talk, when we actually look at his actions when it comes to innovation, they are all actions which will have a negative impact on Australia's ability to be the innovative nation that we want for the future. This is a Prime Minister who promised an ideas boom but has delivered an education bust. The Prime Minister says that he supports innovation but his cuts to education will rip $30 billion out of our schools. Every school and every student will be affected.

The Prime Minister says that he supports innovation but he is still committed to $100,000 degrees, to university funding cuts and deregulation. The Prime Minister says that he supports innovation but his government is sacking hundreds of world-class researchers at the CSIRO. This Prime Minister can talk as much as he likes—and we all know that he does like to talk—but he is a Prime Minister who ultimately will be judged on his actions, and his actions undermine Australia's innovation on every single occasion. You cannot have innovation without investment in education.

The government's actions say it all when it comes to priorities. We know that their $30 billion cuts to our schools will lock Australian students into inequity and will mean that students who need the most help will just be pushed further behind. To put it in context, the $30 billion that this government is proposing to cut from our schools budget is about the same as cutting one in every seven teachers or stripping $3.2 million on average from every single school across Australia. Investing in innovation starts with a properly-funded education system. Investing in innovation starts with investing in every young Australian to get the school education that they deserve.

On this side of the House we know that you cannot talk about innovation without talking about education. Whilst the Liberal Party have no vision for the future of our education system, we have a comprehensive plan to invest in our children's future. Our plan for education is about schools but it is not just about schools. Ours is a plan that is about jobs, it is about economic growth, and it is about Australia's future. Our schools policy will start by undoing the damage that has been caused by the Turnbull government's policies, but it will go beyond that. We will honour the six-year needs based school funding agreements that were signed with the states and territories and that this government went to the last election promising that they would honour—before walking away from them. And we will go beyond that. We will provide long-term certainty for schools by reversing the government's school cuts across the next decade.

This is a policy that will invest targeted resources in the students of today so that we can have the growth, the jobs, the strong economy and the innovation that we need for the future. This is about a permanent change in our education system. Needs based funding will make sure that it reaches the students who will need it the most. This includes making sure that students from low-SES backgrounds are adequately supported: Indigenous students, students with disability, students with limited English and students in small schools or in regional, rural and remote areas whom the National Party have gone absolutely silent on and have stopped fighting for. For every single child it will mean a strong focus on that child's needs. It will mean more individual attention for students. It will mean better-trained teachers. It will mean more targeted resources, better-equipped classrooms and more support for students with disability and special learning needs.

There are important reasons why we believe that this is so important for Australia's future. If you actually have a look at the facts you can see that we are a country that cannot afford to stick with the Turnbull government's school education policies. We know that, worldwide, our national performance is slipping. We need to front up about this. In the year 2000, only one country outperformed Australia in reading and maths. In 2006, only two countries outperformed us in science. Today, 16 countries outperform Australia in maths, nine countries outperform us in reading and seven countries outperform us in science. Right now, students with disability in Australia are missing out on opportunities that are taken for granted by students overseas which they deserve and must be granted. Students in country schools, on average, are up to 1½ years behind their city peers in science and two years behind in maths. And we know that every challenge faced by students from the bush is magnified for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The OECD has found that, if Australia can equip all our secondary school graduates with the basic skills needed for the global economy by 2030, that is the equivalent of adding 2.8 per cent to our GDP. In today's dollars, that would add $44 billion to our economy. So, perhaps if those opposite do belatedly want to stand up and talk about problems in our schools, if they want to stand up and express some interest in ensuring that Australian students get a great education, these are the issues that they should be focused on and they should start by telling their Prime Minister and Treasurer to reverse their $30 billion in cuts.

Labor's 'Your Child. Our Future' policy will provide certainty for schools. It will meet the needs of individual students so they can achieve their best. It includes clear goals. It will ensure that all STEM teachers are tertiary qualified by 2020. It will ensure that    digital technologies and computer science—coding—are taught in every school by 2020, because we know how important it is to our future. It sets a target of 95 per cent year 12 completion by 2020, because young Australians need to finish school to have the greatest opportunity to succeed in life. It also sets the target of returning Australia to being in the top five countries in reading, maths and science by 2025. This will mean targeted investment to improve teaching and the students results.

Unless we can make sure every student in every school gets a great education, we simply will not be able to improve our international scores, and our economy and our country will be held back. We need to prepare our workforce for the challenges of the future. We need to prepare our children for the jobs of the future. We need to prepare our economy for the challenges of the future. If we do not build a strong education system, our children and our country will be left behind and we will not achieve what we deserve. We cannot sit by and wait for the future to come to us. We need a positive plan for the jobs and skills of the future.

Labor has put forward that plan. Labor has put forward a fully costed, fully funded plan to reverse the cuts, to undo the damage that this government has done after they betrayed everything they promised the Australian public. They went to the last election promising a unity ticket and holding up banners saying you can vote Liberal or Labor and you will get exactly the same amount of funding for your school. We have seen that that was blatantly untrue.

Senator Bernardi said: 'I think our schools should be talking about reading, writing and arithmetic. Literacy and numeracy numbers are declining right across the board.' Perhaps he should focus on the biggest challenge to literacy and numeracy in our schools, and that is his own government, his own Prime Minister's cuts, and the fact that they are completely silent in the party room when it comes to standing up for students. I am not surprised that the Prime Minister sold out students this week when he rolled over to the right wing of the Liberal Party—because he has done it every day of his prime ministership. (Time expired)

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