Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

This is the budget that saved Australia. Strengthening our economy, creating jobs, creating landmark infrastructure investments, guaranteeing essential services, building our capability as a nation—these are the hallmarks of this budget. This is a budget which creates educational opportunities so crucial to our economic prosperity. To this end, our government is continuing to support the delivery of quality early childhood education to Australian families and funding certainty for schools and universities, while delivering more higher education places and short courses. We believe, on this side of the aisle, that every Australian should have access to world-class education.

I'm pleased that we've secured a 36 per cent growth in funding for students in regional schools through to 2029. We are providing historic levels of funding, with an estimated $70.9 billion in total Commonwealth funding for schools in regional and remote Australia over the decade to 2029. Overall the government is investing a record $314.2 billion in recurrent funding to schools through to 2029.

We're focused on the implementation of the Gonski and Napthine reforms, supporting quality teaching in school leadership, insisting that literacy and numeracy remain essential elements of high-quality education and increasing transparency for parents and data for schools through NAPLAN. On top of near record and growing funding for schools, the government has committed an additional $146.3 million to deliver a range of projects to help support students, families and school communities impacted by COVID-19, with a focus on disadvantaged students.

The McCormack-Morrison government wants more Australians to undertake a degree, learn a trade, study a vocational qualification, upskill with a microcredential, start a business or get a job. This budget sees new investments in university places, research and key research infrastructure, including $1 billion to fund research at Australian universities to drive the discovery of new products, ideas and innovations to power our post-COVID-19 recovery; $550.3 million for additional university places and short courses; and, through the Job-ready Graduates Package, an additional $400 million for regional universities.

The McCormack-Morrison government is investing a record amount in child care and early learning in this budget—$9.4 billion, increasing to $10.3 billion in 2023-24. Our once-in-a-generation reforms have delivered a 3.2 per cent reduction in out-of-pocket expenses for families. Ninety per cent of families using approved child care receive a subsidy of between 50 and 85 per cent. Seventy-one per cent of families are paying no more than $5 per hour, and, within that number, almost one-quarter are paying no more than $2 per hour.

Australia is going to need more teachers, more nurses, more engineers, more agricultural scientists and more IT professionals. The best thing we can offer our young people impacted by COVID-19 is a pathway to a realistic job and the economic conditions where jobs are created. As a parent, I know that high-quality teachers are an essential part of a well-functioning education system. It's important that we continue to improve outcomes in education and attract the best possible people to the teaching profession and then provide the necessary supports for ongoing training and continuous improvement. There are measures in the budget to address these issues.

Our government has laid out its plan to close the educational gap between regional students and their city based cousins. We're creating more university places for Australian students, with more support for regional students and universities. We're focused on stronger relationships between higher education and industry and less expensive degrees in areas of expected job growth. That is the focus of the Education portfolio, and that is why I am a passionate supporter of this budget. We know how difficult this budget has been for parents, for students and for teachers. I want to take this opportunity—

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