Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth. How is the Gillard Labor government delivering to ensure that regardless of a child’s background they get a great education?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Capricornia for her question. The fact is that this government is delivering in education to make sure that every school in Australia is a great school and that every child, no matter where they live, gets a great education. That is why we have almost doubled spending on education—some $63 billion—compared with the opposition’s record in their last four years: to make sure that we can deliver good education to students right around Australia.

In particular, we have the national partnerships, a $1.5 billion investment in low socioeconomic schools, benefiting some 1,600 schools with additional resources to make sure that there are opportunities for those students to get the quality teaching they need. Additionally, the partnership on numeracy and literacy, another national partnership initiated by this government, is ensuring that we have a half-billion-dollar investment in schools that are specifically focused on issues of numeracy and literacy. That is really important, because if we do not provide that investment in schools for numeracy and literacy then students will not be able to develop the skills and capacities through their school career to make use of into the future.

Again, there will be an investment of some $2.5 billion over 10 years in trades training centres. We have approved over $1 billion of this investment, which will see some 288 projects benefiting over 927 schools around Australia in trades training centres. That is a significant commitment by this government and it makes sure that those students who might consider a trade vocation have the opportunity to do it whilst they are still at school. Again, there is a commitment of more than $2 billion over seven years to get computers into schools for years 9 to 12 by the end of next year. Already 345,000 computers have been delivered, with funding approved for more than three-quarters of a million computers.

Then there is the Building the Education Revolution, a $16 billion investment. We have 23,738 projects right around Australia, in all of the states, and in particular around half are to be delivered to regional and remote Australia with some 99 per cent started and 70 per cent completed.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can hear some of the opposition starting to call out about the Building the Education Revolution. The member for Sturt has 123 projects in his own electorate. The fact is that, when the opposition went to the election in 2007, they were pledging to cut money from the education budget. They wanted to cut some $3.2 billion and that included some $425 million from the smarter schools Improving Teacher Quality program. So I was interested to read the first speech by the member for Aston. On 26 October, he said:

I am proud to have helped establish the Teach for Australia initiative that aims to lift the standing of teaching through tapping into a different pool of graduates. I am pleased there is bipartisan support for it.

I welcome the member for Aston’s contribution and his participation in Teach for Australia, but I regret to tell him that his shadow education minister and the opposition leader were pledging to cut the very program which he thinks there is bipartisan support for. We understand the need for investing in education on this side of the House. We will continue to deliver the resources to make sure that every student in Australia, regardless of where they live, regardless of their background, gets a great education for their future.