Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

From the moment we are born, we are being educated. Some say that even before that they talk to the unborn. They sing and recite poetry because they are so eager to introduce the idea of beauty and a world of beautiful possibilities. Education shapes and transforms us. Everyone on this planet is entitled—yes, I'll use that word—to the best education their families, friends and society can give them. We are all teachers. Those who choose the noble profession of teaching must believe with every fibre of their being in the possibility of good and growth in everybody, regardless of their age, whose education is entrusted to them. Teachers are not simply minding the children or keeping the older ones entertained. Their job is to inspire and to prepare their students as best they can for the world as it is becoming, and that is quite a job.

One of the most important things the Albanese Labor government has done, one of the greatest testaments to its deep commitment to the Australian people, is the boosting of wages for early childhood education and care providers. When we delivered a 15 per cent pay rise for early educators, we showed them the sincerity of our respect for what they do. It's part of the reason we have 41,900 more early childhood educators. Dedicated people are no longer being forced out of their chosen profession because they're trying to make ends meet.

Education is a fundamental human right. To confine or limit someone's education is to confine and limit their lives. For individuals, that's a crime against their individuality and humanity. For society, it's colossally stupid.

The Albanese Labor government's reforms have already seen 97,000 more children in early education. More than a thousand new early learning services are open, and we're investing a billion dollars more to build even more. Our investment in our schools has produced more individualised support for students, more health support and mandated evidence-based teaching practices.

And we aspire. The Albanese Labor government is determined to increase the proportion of students leaving school with the year 12 certificate by 7½ percentage points nationally by 2030. Our Better and Fairer Schools Agreement 2025 to 2034, which began on 1 January—and Western Australia was the first to kick it off—puts every public school on a path to 100 per cent of the school resourcing standard. We are determined to improve education outcomes for all Australian students, wherever they are, whomever they are. That requires commitment to equity and excellence, wellbeing for learning and engagement, and a strong and sustainable workforce.

Strong and sustainable workforces are based on a commitment to skills development of all kinds. Free TAFE is part of Labor's pledge to Australia and to Australia's future—to make it a strong, healthy, sustainable future in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex global environment.

We can't sit around waiting for things to turn out okay in the end. We can't drift along as the coalition did for almost a decade. Perhaps the Liberals and Nationals imagine that everyone who wants to learn skills at a TAFE can afford to pay the fees. Certainly the member for Hughes, who I'm glad is still here, had the gall to suggest as much. Well, they can't. The numbers who have flooded in since we started providing free TAFE places demonstrate that—more than half a million. That's more than half a million Australians voting with their feet and half a million reasons why the coalition is wrong to oppose free TAFE.

In November, we announced more: a 20 per cent debt reduction to help the three million Australians with a student loan debt. That alone removed $16 billion in HELP and other student debt. Our changes to cap the rate of indexation applying to student loans to the lower of the wage price index or the CPI backdated to 2023 removed another $3 million in debt.

The Albanese Labor government believe in action, we believe in work and we believe in a future where everybody gets the chance to be all that they can be and to contribute all that they can, because that's where hope comes from and that's where self-respect comes from. Our commitments are in Labor's DNA. They always have been.

One more little measure that those present who live in the regions would surely appreciate is the university study hubs. We have one in Northam, where I went to school. I certainly would have appreciated it. And we have one now in my electorate of Hasluck, in Ellenbrook, allowing students access to the support they need to further their studies if they can't study at home.

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