Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the member for Reid and her important motion to the House. I acknowledge the member for Lalor and her important contribution to the teaching ranks and what she did to help students, because teachers can be transformational. I remember my schooling years well, and I remember teachers such as John Egan, my year 7 form master, who still contacts me regularly and tells me what I should be doing and how I should be doing it. Yes, he did wield the strap once or twice—thank you, member for Forrest—and I deserved every one of them! Brother Felix Augustine O'Connor, John Zoglmann, Bob Stampton and Lyn Kensey were all wonderful educators who put themselves out to ensure that they went above and beyond the call of duty to get the students of St Michael's Regional High School at Wagga Wagga where they should be, ready for society.

WB Yeats said, 'Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire,' and Robert Frost said, 'I am not a teacher, but an awakener'—and how true those words are. I'm very proud that my daughter Georgina—Georgina Bell, she was married recently—is a teacher and is making sure that English, the English language and drama are the focus of her teaching. From reading some of the things that she has shown me, I know that she's making great strides in her profession and in teaching the kids down in Melbourne how to be their best selves.

When it comes to teaching—and those opposite probably didn't mention this—Sarah Mitchell is doing some great things as the education minister in New South Wales. I know there's an election on, but the sorts of the things that this motion talks about, like the unprecedented teacher shortage having consequences across our society, are being addressed by the New South Wales coalition and have been for the 12 years they have been in government. As we go into this 25 March poll, there's a new cash incentive of $4,000 for public school teachers who obtain nationally Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher accreditation, and there's a $10,000 incentive as part of a push to address shortages outside cities.

My daughter, Georgina, won one of those scholarships to teach in a remote location. She could have easily, once she'd graduated, taught at Wagga Wagga, and schools there would have actually paid the equivalent of that incentive for her HECS debt and whatever else. But she still chose to go out to Griffith, where the NSW education department had assigned her. I was so proud of her for doing that, because, as I said, she could have quite easily continued to live at home—and probably saved more money—but she said, 'No, I'm going to do this because that's what I signed up to do.' And she fulfilled that obligation to the department and to the children in that remote area—Griffith was seen to be remote, even though it's a city of 27½ thousand, or was at the time. Those three years at Griffith High School made her as a teacher. I can remember her very first day at school was difficult. She had a very difficult student who was quite aggressive towards her, but, by the end of the year, as I understand it, he was in the school play wearing a pink tutu and really getting involved because of the education that he'd been given and the part that he'd then played in making sure that teamwork was first and foremost. That's what teaching is about. It's about inspiring kids and transforming them to be their best selves.

I compliment Minister Mitchell for the work that she is doing. She is a regional person herself. No matter what sector it is, right across every endeavour of society, there are 80,000 full-time vacancies in regional Australia at the moment that we need to fill—you'd know that yourself, Deputy Speaker Sharkie—and education is certainly one of those sectors. We know that teachers do not work school hours. I know teachers who routinely get to work very early, just a bit after seven in the morning, and are still there at 5.30 at night. They take their work home with them. I have to say, during COVID, it was so difficult not having that face-to-face interaction with students—particularly boys, I'm told, anecdotally, of course. Now that school is back in the classroom and it's face-to-face learning again, teachers are quickly trying to make up the gap between those students, particularly the year 8s and 9s who lost those years of education. It's all right for the primary school kids; they adapt and get on with things. But, for the high school children, it was very, very difficult and, like the member for Hunter, I commend teachers and thank them very much, earnestly and honestly, for the job they do.

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