Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Training and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. Is the minister aware that while the government was forecasting 300,000 more Australians would be out of work by June next year the department responsible for getting Australians back into jobs held a week-long happiness seminar for 100 of her public servants? These happiness seminars were run by Professor Martin Seligman, who has coined the expression ‘learned helplessness’ to describe someone who refuses to take responsibility for anything. Will the minister take responsibility for this extravagant spending of almost $1 million of taxpayers’ money or has she learned helplessness?

The member for Herbert then left the chamber.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question and note how unusual it is to get a question on education from those opposite. If the shadow minister asking the question had got to the bottom of these facts, he would have realised that the expenditure he refers to includes a training seminar for teachers. I actually believe that supporting teachers to be better teachers in their classrooms is not a waste of money.

So, if I could refer the member to the seminar for 209 teachers led by Martin Seligman, I note his attempt to parody what Martin Seligman did at that seminar, but I say to the members opposite that Professor Seligman is a noted educationalist from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the leader in the development of the Penn Resiliency Program. That program has been shown to make a difference—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You will not be laughing in a second. That program has been shown to make a difference to mental health issues amongst young people, including issues like anorexia and depression. That is actually serious and ought not to be catcalled about. People in this country, I believe, are concerned about mental health issues for teenagers. Perhaps those members calling out are not. But if they are not concerned about those things then they are clearly out of touch with the value system of Australians. Australians are concerned about those things.

Professor Seligman held a seminar—yes, for which a subsidy was made available through my department—for 209 teachers. The member used a figure that also included expenditure on this. I can certainly refer the member to the fact that this seminar was attended by teachers across the country, including teachers in South Australia, who came there to learn from those professional development activities. So perhaps in their haste to make a cheap political point the Liberal Party might like to think through these issues. Are they concerned about mental health issues amongst young people—yes or no? Do they recognise that Professor Seligman’s program has been recognised around the world as making a difference to those mental health issues amongst young people? And, therefore, should they consider whether supporting teachers to get access to that kind of curriculum and professional development is a good idea or a bad idea? Before they keep making cheap political points maybe they should just spend a moment reflecting on each of those things.