Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I look forward to the Bennelong Cup. Table tennis, or ping-pong, has always been a favourite of mine.

I welcome the opportunity to speak today on this very significant matter of public importance—namely that this government is failing Australian schools. Some here might have heard my first speech in this place yesterday, where I expressed my great concern for education and the whole education system of this country. I know the benefits that can be had from a great state school education. I attended three great state schools in Western Australia in the seat of Brand: Safety Bay Primary, Rockingham Beach Primary and Safety Bay Senior High School. I know how committed our teachers are in delivering the best education they can to our children and young people. But they cannot do this alone. The best education comes from investment—investment in our teachers, our schools and our children.

But this government today, this Prime Minister's Liberal government, is failing to invest in our schools and in our children and young people. It is with disbelief that I look at how this Liberal government is failing to invest in our schools and in our children's futures. With the Liberals it does not matter whether it is a public, Catholic or independent school—under this government every school and every student will be worse off. In fact, education and schools will all be worse off thanks to the Liberal's $30 billion in cuts.

Labor does not believe in slashing education funding—we believe in increasing it. Labor believes in education and the future choices a good education will give Australian students. Labor believes in giving every school child the education they deserve.

The Prime Minister's failure to implement the needs-based funding model for school children—you know, that unity ticket—has denied every student the individual support needed to ensure they achieve their best. Walking away from Gonski school funding reforms, the Prime Minister has walked away from every special needs child who requires individual attention in order to reach their best educational achievement. The Prime Minister has walked away from every disadvantaged child who, through no fault of their own, needs extra help to benefit from a good education. And the Prime Minister has also walked away from every talented student who dreams of being given the opportunities to make the most of their abilities.

The failure by this government, this neglect of schools, has a longer term impact. Youth unemployment in the Kwinana/Rockingham/Mandurah/Peel region has been identified as around 25 per cent. It is a staggering figure. It is a disgrace. Instead of walking away from young people, the government should be investing in them. This investment needs to begin early. It needs to begin at school so that, when they leave school, young people have choices.

As I mentioned in my first speech, in the 25 years since I left Safety Bay Senior High School not much has changed. The government is failing that school and lots of others across my electorate. When I finished school, out of about a hundred-odd students only a handful gained university entry. In 2015, only 33 of 126 year 12 students at Safety Bay Senior High School left with ATAR university entry. Something clearly needs to change. Only 12 per cent of year 12 students at Gilmore College in Kwinana have ATARs in 2015. Again, something clearly needs to change.

Investments need to be made—investment in schools so they are at the forefront of innovation in delivering education; investment in technology, so that our school children graduate well-versed in the tools of the 21st Century: the tools of a clever country, including a first-world internet service. Labor's fibre optic NBN would have given every school the opportunity of creatively and innovatively delivering classes and courses to engage with students. Labor's fibre optic NBN would give every Australian student the ability to connect to such classes and courses.

Unfortunately, in my electorate, in the suburb of Baldivis alone, students have no access to the internet, thanks to substandard, outdated and ignored communications infrastructure that leaves residents scratching about for ADSL ports to connect to. Never mind the NBN—where is the internet? And this beggars belief: across Baldivis, where is the mobile phone coverage?

This government is failing the people of Baldivis. This government is failing these hardworking, aspirational young people living in one of Australia's fastest-growing suburbs. And this government is failing their children. These students are being left behind when it comes to researching and doing their homework. If they cannot complete their research and work, what does this government expect their school results to look like?

The failure of the Prime Minister's government is entrenching inequality. It is serving to hold aspiring young people back. It is sabotaging the young people in my electorate and their access to education. It is a shocking waste and a shocking shame.

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