Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to say that education fixes that, but it does not fix it when you are dealing with significant ice issues and you are dealing with significant family breakdowns. It is a lot more complex than saying, 'Education fixes that.' I am making the point that there is a strong argument for the federal government and state governments to bring in permanent breakfast programs in our schools.

An opposition member interjecting—

You can laugh about that if you like, but I have seen this in the children we have been involved with as foster parents. There is no argument that our children need to be fed and need to have access to good food so that they can attend and stay at school.

I want to use the last 40 seconds of my speech to talk about the volunteers in our lower socio-economic schools, the schools in my electorate, and commend them for their volunteerism. Most days each week they deliver breakfast programs.

Opposition members interjecting—

I am very surprised that I am getting pushback from the opposition about our children getting fed. The lowbrow level of discussion surprises me. We need good education. Home life is part of good education and school culture is part of good of education, as are school facilities. Our government will continue to deliver $20 billion towards our educational program in 2020.

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