Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth. Will the minister inform the House of the importance of supporting jobs by giving Australians the education and training that they need? What would the impact be on jobs of not investing in skills for Australians?

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

(Kingsford Smith—Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) (14:59): I thank the member for Bass for that question. This government understands that a serious commitment to equipping young Australians with a job for the future means starting early and acting comprehensively across early childhood and school education, across vocational training and higher education. As a song from the seventies, I think, said: 'If you're going to do it, do it right,' and on this side of the House we are doing it right. For the first time we have a federal government—

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! As I have said before when members on both sides are encouraged at moments like this. The minister is sticking to his day job.

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

Mr Speaker, I am happy to stick to my day job but my opposition number keeps on getting chucked out and is not even here for the question.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will not see that as an invitation to digress.

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

For the first time a federal government is investing in early childhood education, some $17 billion over the next four years, including nearly $1 billion over five years to the states and territories to make sure that we have universal access for early learning for all Australian children in the year prior to school. The government is investing big time in teachers: $550 million in the Teacher Quality National Partnership. This means that teachers get the professional development they need to be the best teacher they can be for all Australian children and there is the first ever set of national teachers standards. That is why we are investing in literacy and numeracy. These are the building blocks of education. This is what gets you on the road to a good job.

We are investing $540 million dollars under the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership, supporting over 400,000 students including, I am pleased to see, some 28,000 Indigenous students right around Australia. Of course, we are giving Australian students access to a world-class curriculum no matter where they live. We are investing over $100 million in the development of this national curriculum and over $2.4 billion in the Digital Education Revolution. We are providing access to a computer for every student in years 9 to 12, something that has never been done before. It is a program that the opposition leader promised to cut. He wanted to take about $600 million out of it. Over there they want kids to learn with chalk; we want to give them the computers to compete and learn in the modern world. We are also investing in Trades Training Centres so that kids get on the vocational pathway early. We have awarded more than $1 billion for 288 projects benefiting over 900 schools.

I am asked about the impacts of not investing in the skills of Australians. The fact is that the opposition wanted to cut over $1.1 billion from the Trades Training Centres in Schools Program. That would have meant that over one million students around Australia, who could get on that vocational pathway, would not have had the opportunity, so the hairdressers, the chefs, the carpenters, the electricians and the brickies would have been denied that opportunity. We also understand the importance of extending that into investing in skills. Again there are record levels of investment in skills: $10.9 billion in the last three years in investment compared with some $6.8 million from those opposite.

Finally, there is the importance of investing in higher education. There is the virtuous circle that goes from early, preschool education right through to university. An additional 100,000 Australian students are attending university this year. We invest in jobs in education because we know that it will make a difference to the prospects of future Australians. All we get from Mr Abbott is no, no to skills, no to supporting teachers and no to training. About the only thing he can say yes to is a recognition that there is one thing that he is actually in favour of—of course it is Work Choices. We will get on with supporting the future of Australia.