Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that, under the Coalition Government, Australia's higher education system is failing kids, workers and businesses, as demonstrated by:

  (1) falling entrance marks for teaching degrees;

  (2) the Government leaving behind our regions;

  (3) a skills crisis where 150,000 apprentices and trainees have been lost and more than $3 billion has been cut from TAFE and training; and

  (4) restricted access to university, with 200,000 Australians locked out of university, especially in the suburbs and the regions".

Of course, Labor won't be opposing the content of these bills. They provide some sensible measures that make it a bit easier for students to take up aviation courses, making sure that those students are not saddled with unreasonable debts. It is very expensive to undertake an aviation course; the funding previously did not reflect that. We support the government's decision to allow students to receive better support for aviation courses.

We also support the measure that will allow student teachers' HELP debts to be reduced or even completely waived if they move to a very remote school. We won't oppose measures that are aimed at addressing the critical shortage of teachers in our remote communities. I'd like to particularly draw attention to the fact that this bill also covers teachers going into early-childhood settings, going into kindergartens or early-childhood education and care settings. We are very supportive of that. We really want kids who are growing up in remote communities to get the very best start in life, and having qualified teachers, including in early-childhood education and care settings, is a really important part of that.

Aside from describing these measures that we are supportive of, I think it's important to say that, more broadly, this government has really let down young Australians when it comes to education. The consequences are serious for young people who are not getting the best education, which they really deserve. It's also very important for us as a nation to continue to invest in high-quality education. We've seen productivity go backwards in this country in recent years. The best and most important investment we can make in continuing to improve productivity in our country, given how quickly our world is changing and how quickly the world of work is changing, is in our young people—invest in people throughout their working lives to make sure that they have an education that helps them get a job, do that job well and continue to improve in their work. We've seen so many examples in recent times of a government that's letting us down when it comes to this type of investment.

We are still very concerned, of course, that there is no guarantee that funding for preschool will continue beyond 2020. Certainly it was Labor's intention, had we won office, not just to confirm that preschool funding for four-year-olds would be universally available permanently but also to extend that to universal funding for three-year-olds, to make sure that they have access to preschool. Countries around the world are investing more in early-childhood education and care, because we know that when we give kids a great start in life it follows them through their lives. It means that they are more successful when they start school and it means they are more successful in the workforce. It's a great advantage for those children, but it's also a great advantage for us as a nation. It's a really important way that we can reduce the disparities in our nation and make sure that we continue to be a wealthy, successful nation globally.

We've also seen, of course, this government's determination to stick with its $14 billion of cuts for public schools. We've had different iterations of school funding from this government. We had, when Joe Hockey was the Treasurer and under Prime Minister Abbott, an effort to cut $30 billion from schools. That was softened a little bit under Prime Minister Abbott—a $22 billion dollar cut from schools. When Scott Morrison became the Prime Minister, we saw that the cut was reduced to hitting only public schools. Of course Labor supported the restoration of funding to Catholic and independent schools. We had been standing side-by-side with them in their fight for fair funding. But how can it possibly be okay that these cuts now fallen entirely on public schools? Our public schools right around the nation will miss out on more than $14 billion in funding because of the decisions that this government has made.

When it comes to universities, 200,000 young people who will miss out now because of the recapping of university places. We've seen the slashing of funding for research in universities and, most recently, we've been talking about a skills crisis. The Prime Minister's has been saying that he wants young people to study a trade; I agree. I would be so happy if my kids came home and told me they wanted to study a trade. My dad was a plumber. He liked to tell me that plumbers had saved more lives in the 20th century than doctors.

See this speech in context