Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Hansard source

I might just start that bit again. As I have said, we released some time ago our report Quality schools, quality outcomes. I am very happy to make available to those opposite a copy of that report so that they can understand what the future of education looks like and what the five key areas are that we as a coalition government are focused on delivering.

The first area is boosting literacy, numeracy and STEM performance. The second one is teaching and school leadership. The third one is preparing our students for a globalised world. The fourth is focusing on what matters most and those who need it most. And the fifth point is accountability through transparency. I think it would be very hard for anyone who was at all interested in education to dispute that those are, in fact, the five key priority areas that we as a government and a nation should all be focusing on delivering. We want to make sure that we are delivering to our students a quality education today and into the future.

I have explained at length the errors in the assertions that the opposition are making in regards to funding in the future. I do want to take the opportunity today to point out that Labor did not actually just limit its damage in the education sector to schools. It did almost irreparable damage to vocational education in this nation. It is an area in which I have worked for a number of years in various capacities. It is soul destroying for me and for many of those around me—my colleagues on this side of the House—to reflect on the damage that was done to vocational education in the period 2011-12 when there were nine successive cuts to employer incentives totalling $1.2 billion. One point two billion dollars was ripped out of vocational education in 2011-12 when Labor was in government.

See this speech in context