Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am so pleased to join in what has been passing for a debate on this important motion put forward by my friend the member for Hindmarsh. I am proud to stand with all my Labor colleagues to give every child in every Australian school every chance of fulfilling their potential in school and in education, because that is what the original Gonski vision was all about. That is a vision that has been fundamentally undermined and now betrayed by this government. This motion highlights the essential choice when it comes not just to schools funding but to Australia's future.

On the Labor side of the parliament, we stand for the future and for investing in our kids and giving them every chance in life. We understand that every child starts school with different advantages and disadvantages, and we need a schools funding mix that accounts for that. That is what the national plan for schools improvement was; that is precisely what this sham is not. There is so much noise from members opposite because they are not interested in this debate. They are fundamentally not interested in our future. We have seen them short-change early years education. They continue to apply bandaids when they need to invest in the best start in life. When it comes to schools funding, they are absent. They have no understanding, no empathy and no vision. The choice is very clear—

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