Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the government doing to improve the outcomes for school students and what has been the response from the South Australian government to these initiatives? How do poor results at school affect the job prospects of South Australians?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for this question. I know that he is very concerned about student outcomes and our student-first policy. I do regret to inform the House that South Australia has recorded the worst results in school outcomes of any mainland state or territory. In fact, the Programme for International Student Assessment analysis that was released yesterday shows that, in the time that the South Australian Labor government has been in power since 2002, South Australia's results have declined considerably. In maths, South Australia's raw score for maths dropped 46 points, more than double the national average decline of 20 points. In reading, the state's reading score declined 37 points, again more than double the national average drop of 16 points. In science, South Australia's raw score dropped 19 points, 280 per cent greater than the average decline in performance across Australia.

Unfortunately, the South Australian results have declined dramatically in the period that Jay Weatherill has been education minister and then Premier of South Australia. Labor's response is: 'There's nothing to see here. Everyone move on. Nothing needs to change. Everything's fine.' We have tried to put in place policies about independent public schooling, the national curriculum review, orthodox teaching methods like phonics and teacher training. The Labor state government in South Australia have opposed all of those policies. They are absolutely content to let South Australian students slip under the ooze of mediocrity.

I am also asked about jobs. The problem in South Australia is that Premier Weatherill is tied very closely to the teachers union in that state and he will not act on the student results to put students first. But he also made the extraordinary statement last week that the Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing 45 per cent youth unemployment in northern Adelaide were nonsense statistics and that in fact youth unemployment was tiny in northern Adelaide. He is not just out of his depth; he is five miles from the shore as the Premier of our state.

The truth is: if you have bad results at school, you will not have good job prospects. South Australia deserves better. South Australia deserves a government on North Terrace that puts students first, not unions first. While Jay Weatherill remains in power in South Australia, the job prospects of young Australians will be under the burden of very bad outcomes, presided over by a dysfunctional department of education in my state.