Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Science and Training. Does the minister recall her statement after her meeting with all state and territory education ministers in Brisbane in July this year when she said: ‘I wasn’t pushing a national curriculum. I think that public education should be in the hands of the states.’ Isn’t it the case that the minister has now done a fundamental backflip when she says: ‘We need to take the school curriculum out of the hands of the ideologues in the state and territory education bureaucracies and give it to a national board of studies’? Absurd allegations about Maoists aside, Minister, what do you believe?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian government position has been absolutely consistent on this issue because we are about ensuring that there is greater national consistency across this country. Currently we have eight separate education authorities around the country, each separately developing separate curricula for every subject in primary and secondary schools.

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Macklin interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The deputy leader has asked her question.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have called for a debate in order to ensure that we can achieve greater national consistency and I have said that the states should bring to the table the very best that they have to offer. So, if the New South Wales curriculum is the best in the country, let us all have a look at it and see if that can be rolled out nationally. I have suggested that representatives from the states and territories get together to discuss the best curriculum that this country can produce.

I have worked with education ministers across the country to ensure that we can get consistency in statements of learning, and they are under way in five subjects. The states have now agreed that, as part of our funding agreement, there will be national assessments in literacy and numeracy for years 3, 5, 7 and 9. What we need to focus on is ensuring that every child, wherever they go to school in Australia, has access to a high-quality education, with high-quality teaching in a high-quality environment.