Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was a good investment—11 years of teaching that I loved. I did have to pay HECS on my arts and law degrees, which was fair enough. It's not fair for this generation of students who are paying a larger percentage towards their tertiary education than I did.

We are also raising the threshold that people can earn before they start having to make their HECS repayments. With these measures, Labor is taking action on intergenerational inequality and enabling many more Australians into further study after school. The coalition left us a skills catastrophe, and we're fixing up.

The reforms in this bill lead to an additional $16 billion in funding for Australian schools, if all states and territories sign up. I'm proud to say this is the biggest extra investment in public education ever. As a proud graduate of St George State High School, as a former state school English, geography and history teacher and as the parent of a kid at a state school, I know how important this investment is. Ultimately, we can only trust a Labor government to make sure students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are not being left behind. To do so is better for the nation, better for business, better for our kids and I commend the bill to the House.

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