Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It would be nice for five minutes or so to talk about something positive that we're doing as a government. I always admire the contributions from those opposite, because they actually never provide any useful solutions to the problems that are before us. It's just a culture of whingeing and complaining.

It was interesting listening to the assistant minister's earlier answer. I want to thank the assistant minister for her ability to be across such a broad portfolio when there are so many things going on. It just shows again that as a government we're paying attention to detail. The assistant minister's door is always open for a discussion about a range of issues, and I'm very appreciative.

I'd like to focus on a couple of things. There is, firstly, education funding. I can say that, across the 42 schools in my electorate, I've had the pleasure of catching up with the principals over the course of this year. They're all happy. They're all happy with the funding that they are receiving and the resources that their schools are getting. Despite the complaints and misinformation and campaigns from those opposite, and from the Australian Education Union and others, the fact of the matter is that the principals and staff in the schools in my electorate of Forde are more than happy with the funding they are receiving from this government and they are going to receive in the years going forward. So my congratulations go to the Minister for Education and his representative, the assistant minister here today, on that. I know they've both been to the electorate at various times to listen to the concerns of the education sector.

I also want to touch on the program that we continue to roll out around Early Learning Languages Australia, otherwise known as the ELLA program. I had the pleasure in 2015 of attending the opening of that program at the Logan TAFE Community Child Care Centre. From memory, I think they were doing Arabic. That program is tremendous because it gives the kids an opportunity to learn a second language. We know from any number of studies that when kids are exposed to other languages and skills it helps them in their day-to-day learning. I'm also very happy to say that recently we announced that, in the second round of funding for the ELLA program, the Bethania Early Education Centre was successful in getting funding for its program. They are focusing on Mandarin.

Both of these centres are in areas we classify as low-socioeconomic areas, particularly the early learning centre. The opportunity for these kids at these early learning centres to learn this second language and use that as a foundation for their learning and building their skills and their capacity as students is enormous. We know that each and every one of these children is valuable and important and has tremendous skills and capability, and we need to create the opportunities for them to demonstrate that. We also see schools with kids in music programs. Typically, the kids in music programs are some of the top students in our schools. This program provides an enormous opportunity for these students to develop those skills.

Equally, I'm pleased with the budget announcement and the changes we've made in childcare funding. There are some 8,900 families across my electorate, and their children will benefit from the increased funding we're making to the childcare sector. That has been very well received. It is just another example of what this government is doing across the spectrum of education. And I haven't touched on vocational education. I think vocational education is tremendously important. We need carpenters and plumbers and electricians, because the average age of that workforce today is the mid-50s. We need a new generation to come through. Could the minister please explain how these programs are helping across our electorates and particularly in mine of Forde?

See this speech in context