Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government claims its second budget is about jobs. In my community, where we are losing jobs because of the automotive closures and flow-ons, and youth unemployment is growing, we would really appreciate this government getting serious about job creation. But, instead, what do we get? The government's budget projects an increase in unemployment, to 6.5 per cent. It has not been that high since this Prime Minister was the minister responsible for employment.

We have increases in unemployment and, more crazily, we have a government standing in the way of the improvements to education that would deliver the innovation and capacity to create the jobs of the future. We have a government that slashed education funding last year, a government that is persisting with $100,000 degrees.

However, on this side, we are committed to creating the jobs of the future. We understand that improving education and educational outcomes, ensuring access to affordable and high-quality higher education, funding early education for all young children and building the capacity of our schools to deliver high-order and scientific thinking to all students will build our capacity to create the jobs of the future that this country needs. On this side, we are committed to equity and quality in education and to the best training for our early educators and our teachers. Our commitments this week demonstrate that: commitments to improving STEM teaching and learning; to introducing computer coding, the language of the 21st century— (Time expired)