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

Mr Deputy Speaker Coulton, it gives me great pleasure to speak in front of someone such as you—someone who understands rural Australia and can relate to some of the social disadvantages I hope to touch on as I talk this evening. We kept the election campaign for Mallee very simple—we said people who live in the Wimmera-Mallee contribute $5.3 billion to the Australian economy and all they ask is that they be able to drive on a decent road, be able to make a decent phone call—have access to telecommunications—have good educational opportunities for their children and know that when they go to the doctor they are going to be treated.

I want to touch on education this evening. In Mallee, the federal government has given $444 million, and from 2014 to 2017 the federal government's contribution has increased to the tune of 27 per cent. To give some macro figures, we are now spending $13 billion from 2013 and by 2020 we will be increasing that to $20 billion. But more money does not necessarily equal a better outcome. That is a challenge we have had to address. I want to touch on some of the social disadvantages that I think also feed into this. There are three things that constitute a good education. It is not just school facilities. School facilities are very much part of it, but it is school culture, and what I see in some of my schools that do not have great facilities is really hardworking teachers—teachers who go above and beyond, who care about what is going on in their school. The other thing that is very important in a child's development is home life. If children do not have parents who read to them and if they do not have access to a good breakfast, that is going to be detrimental to their education. So there are school facilities, school culture and home life.

I want to talk about school culture for a moment, because there are some quite innovative things happening in the Mallee. The Robinvale school has 415 students and 54 first languages. Have a think about that. It is arguably one of the most multicultural schools in Australia. They have a very active community and they have used Clontarf, which is an AFL football incentive, to get our Indigenous population engaged in school. They are now broadening that across to rugby. I got tasked with the role of playing football with the Clontarf boys, and it damned near killed me. I thought that was tough on me, until I played rugby with the girls. If you want to learn how to be tackled, just watch them—they can wipe you out. There has been a unique culture in that school, and they have fostered higher education outcomes. It is my hope that in 2018 I will take some of the students from Robinvale, which is the sister city of Villers-Bretonneux, across for the 100th anniversary of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux.

The other college I want to talk about, with their school culture, is Tyrell College in Sea Lake. Tyrell College has embraced the fact that they live in an agriculture community. The local John Deere dealership donates a tractor to them every year. They are the experts in no-till farming and they are doing some outside-of-the-square stuff with agriculture. They are saying that there is a strong future for agriculture. We are an agricultural town, of course, in Sea Lake. Around that culture, they are really developing a sense of belief in the industry that drives to that town and also a sense of self-worth for those children.

Just on that, I think school career teachers play a big part in a child's development and pathway. I fear sometimes that our school career teachers talk down our rural industries and country industries. They sometimes have a message to country students that if you do not leave, you have not been successful. Something that we need to foster in our career teachers is seeing just how dynamic the agriculture industry is in their own patch are.

One thing I want to touch on a little bit is about home life. There is a lot of talk that goes on all the time about Gonski, Gonski and Gonski. People in my patch will say, 'We want Gonski.' I say, 'What is that?' They say, 'I have no idea, but it sounds good. We want it.' I say, 'Well, that's fine.' If you look at the breakdown of Gonski, largely in Victoria and as administered by Victoria, all it is simply doing is giving more money to the school but it is taking away the maintenance program for the school to actually put the hammer on the nail and fix the roof. You would be very surprised when you look at the Victorian breakdown. If you want to breakdown what is the thing that is really holding back some of the students in my patch, it is the home life. The electorate of Mallee is the 10th poorest electorate.

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