Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Sturt for his question and for his incredible commitment to his electorate, to South Australia and to our great nation. As we come out of COVID and as kids go back to school, in line with our national plan, we need a curriculum that lifts standards, that is less cluttered and that embeds evidence based practices. But, critically, we also need a curriculum that instils a love in our students of our great country, that teaches them about our rich history and about our democracy, because we all know, certainly on this side of the chamber, that we live in the greatest country in the world, bar none. We're one of the wealthiest, most free, most egalitarian, most tolerant countries not just today but in the history of all of humankind, and millions of people have migrated to this country precisely for those reasons.

You think about some of the fundamental freedoms which underpin those core things, which make us so attractive for millions of people. They're one person, one vote, equality before the law, freedom of association and speech, universal education, strong human rights and the ability to start a business and keep what you earn—reward for effort. And these freedoms didn't happen by accident. They came about because of hard-fought gains over centuries. We inherited such great institutions from the UK, and then generation upon generation, particularly in the 20th century, fought and, in many cases, died for those great freedoms. That's why it's so important that those key principles, that key understanding, is embedded in our national curriculum—so that students understand where our great democracy came from, so that they will defend it just as previous generations have.

I am not satisfied with the current draft which has been presented, because some of those core things which underpin our democracy are not there. It has a negative view of our history. It has a negative view of Australia. It omits some of the great people in Australia's history. It omits even things such as Christianity, more or less, even though it's one of the great influences on modern Australia.

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