Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House places on record that:

(1) the Government is committed to improving education in regional, rural and remote Australia;

(2) this commitment stretches across all levels of education—primary, secondary and tertiary; and

(3) Members in regional electoral divisions have held higher education forums throughout regional Australia, to identify how to bridge the gap between metropolitan and regional higher education.

I am very pleased to speak on my private members' business motion highlighting the Turnbull government's work in country education. Firstly, I want to set the record straight regarding education funding. Last year, this government increased funding to Western Australian schools by a whopping 42 per cent over the next four years—which is some $619 million. So accusing this government of making cuts to schools is pure fantasy.

As a Liberal, I am very proud to be shining a light on improving education in the bush. I start by paying tribute to the other three speakers today from the government side: the member for O'Connor—who is here with me now—and also the member for Forrest and the member for Canning. All these speakers are from the Liberal Party and all proudly represent rural and regional Western Australian electorates. All four of us know the challenges of living outside of a city and are determined that a kid in the bush should have the same opportunities as their city cousins. In a bid to improve education in the very remote towns which I represent, this government is providing $22 million over four years to Good to Great Schools Australia to roll out the Flexible Literacy for Remote Primary Schools Program in 33 remote schools in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. This will target the disparity between remote and metropolitan schools, where 94 per cent of year 3 students meet the minimum standard in NAPLAN compared to 84 per cent in remote schools and, sadly, only 55.7 per cent in very remote schools—many of them in my electorate. As well as improving education in remote schools, the Turnbull government is improving education for Indigenous Australians. We have provided some $11.5 million over three years to 2016 through the Indigenous Boarding Initiative to support non-government schools with a significant number of Indigenous students from remote areas. Last year this initiative helped 26 schools and over 1,700 students throughout the country. This funding will help these schools to deliver improved services to students—such as a focus on school attendance and engagement—and to ensure that Indigenous students from remote areas have access to a universally good education, as they deserve.

Learning is a lifelong process, and I believe that tertiary education is an important chapter in every young man's and woman's education. In Durack I am very proud of the highly successful, innovative Geraldton Universities Centre model. This is something that I am working hard on to expand not only into the northern part of my electorate—in the Pilbara and in the Kimberley—but also more broadly into the Wheatbelt. Since its inception in 2001 GUC has grown from 20 students to more than a whopping 250 students this year, which I believe is a fantastic result. It has been so successful that the GUC model has been copied in Cooma, New South Wales, with the Cooma Universities Centre opening in 2013.

I am especially proud of this government's recent changes to youth allowance, which will enable more kids from the bush to go to university. Reforming this assets test has allowed thousands more young people to qualify for youth payments such as youth allowance, ABSTUDY, living allowance and the assistance for isolated children scheme. The regional higher education forums which were held around the country—we held one in Moora in my electorate last year—I am very pleased to say will also lead to improved outcomes for regional tertiary students. Our regional higher education forums were very proudly supported by representatives from the departments of education and social security, which are now charged with the responsibility of preparing a report on the findings from the forums. I am quite confident that the report will detail the barriers for country students and will also deliver real recommendations.

I have met with the education minister, Simon Birmingham, and also the social services minister, Christian Porter, along with fellow regional members on this side of the chamber, and we are pleased to say that we are now pushing hard for an increase in rent assistance for students from the bush. As I have said, the Turnbull government is focused on creating real solutions, delivering real action and improving education across all levels—primary, secondary and tertiary—for regional, remote and rural students. To students and their families in the bush my message is simple: we on this side of the chamber understand the issues you face. We are listening, and those of us on this side of the chamber are working to deliver quality education. I am very pleased to be here today to talk about what we are going to do both now and into the future.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Durack. Do we have a seconder for the motion?

Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whilst listening to the member for Durack and reading this motion I could not help but note that, whilst some of the programs listed in the member for Durack's speech are all well and good, she neglected to say that, before the last election, this government infamously promised no cuts to education. Then, since the election, we have seen $30 billion cut from education funding in Australia into the future. That will impact greatly on rural and regional schools because that funding was to go to needs based funding for schools, and one of the loadings of that needs based funding was for regional and rural students. I am surprised by the hypocrisy of the member for Durack and other members on this motion if they do not mention their budget cut of $30 billion to education that will disproportionately impact on those schools in rural and regional Australia.

It would also be remiss of me not to mention their failed higher education reforms. We heard from the member for Durack about the importance of tertiary education as well as primary and secondary education—and she is right about that. But the tertiary education reforms that have been put up by this government and knocked off several times by the Senate would again impact disproportionately on regional and rural universities. That is why they had to come up with a regional universities assistance package. That was recognition that their policies would hurt regional students and regional universities. They actually admitted it by putting up these additional funds—nowhere near enough, by the way, and we certainly still oppose those higher education reforms. All they have done since they have got into government, with their cuts to needs based funding and their higher education reforms, is make students in regional and rural Australia worse off, rather than better off, over the long term.

We have heard about how they are holding forums around the country, which is all well and good, as I said, but we already know that country, rural and regional kids start behind. They start off behind when they start primary school, because of the lack of early childhood education in rural and regional Australia. We already know that their NAPLAN scores in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are behind metropolitan students. We already know that they are behind in their science and maths. We already know that the reading literacy is behind in country schools. We already know all this information. We also already know that students drop out at a higher rate.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:21 to 12:52

As I was saying before the division, regarding retention rates, we already know that students drop out of rural and regional schools. We know that rural and regional students have a lower year 12 attainment. I particularly want to refer to my home state of Tasmania, where the figures are quite alarming. We are the only state or territory to actually go backwards in year 12 retention rates. In 2004, we had a retention rate of around 76 per cent and our year 12 completions are now down to 68 per cent, and they have particularly dropped in those regional, rural and remote schools. So it is a really serious issue to consider when we talk about the disadvantage of students in rural and regional schools. For members on the other side to come in here and talk about all the good things they are doing really shows their hypocrisy, given, as I said earlier, their cuts of $30 billion to needs based funding for schools. This money would absolutely make a difference to those students in those rural and regional schools because of the loading, as I highlighted before.

As I also highlighted before, Labor has a positive plan for funding to needs based schools. We have outlined how we would fund the additional money for those schools and we have also talked about the benefits of what that would mean for students in the schools. It would mean extra one-on-one time to meet the needs of every student. It would mean literacy and numeracy support for every student. It would mean higher teacher entry standards. It would mean more specialist teachers, particularly in rural and regional schools, and better professional development and support. It would mean new subject choices, better extra curricular activities, more support for students with disabilities and more access to specialist allied health services like speech and occupational therapy. Our plan for schools would actually make a massive difference to students in rural and regional areas right across the country. As I said, I am particularly concerned about students in my home state of Tasmania, where we have had students falling behind and, when it comes to retention rates, going backwards. It absolutely needs to be addressed. As the member for Durack outlined, the government is doing very little. They are talking about some of the funding programs, but they have cut $30 billion out of schools funding into the future, and they should be ashamed at the hypocrisy of this motion.

Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to thank my colleague and dear friend the member for Durack for introducing this private member's bill acknowledging the commitment of this government towards improving educational opportunities in the bush. Together, our electorates of Durack and O'Connor make up most of rural, regional and remote Western Australia. Our constituency is as varied as the landscapes we traverse in our daily work. Our challenges range from improving Indigenous school attendance and academic outcomes to ensuring all remote students have optimal access to distance education programs. We want our country schools' sporting, arts and academic champions to have the opportunities to compete on a global stage and for our school leaders to have equitable access to higher education, relative to their urban counterparts.

So what is the government doing to maximise the opportunities for kids in electorates like O'Connor? In the Indigenous space, I have visited many remote communities who are proactively working towards greater school attendance. Many O'Connor schools participate in the Clontarf program, which I have been involved with, along with Wongutha CAPS, which is a non-government boarding school with two campuses in O'Connor—in Esperance and Coolgardie—providing outstanding learning opportunities for remote Aboriginal students. The government's Indigenous Boarding Initiative assists students like these who choose to board to maximise their academic, artistic, sporting or educational opportunities. Last year over 1,700 students from electorates just like mine benefited from this initiative. Many of the more remote schools in my electorate receive additional government assistance through funding weighted according to their accessibility, remoteness, Indigenous make-up and measurable social disadvantage.

Over the next four years, the government is providing $22 million to roll out the Flexible Literacy for Remote Primary Schools program, which will help remote schools target those students who are not meeting the NAPLAN minimum standards for reading. The government also understands the unique challenges facing parents in isolated areas and supports the Isolated Children's Parents' Association, who are not only advocates but also innovators, assisting parents educating their children via distance education. Meanwhile, the Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme financially supports children who, due to geographical disadvantage, isolation or special needs, need to live away from home to undertake their studies.

Probably the most significant change this government has instituted is the amendments to Youth Allowance eligibility announced in last year's budget. The removal of the Family Assets Test and Family Actual Means Test as of January this year will have far-reaching consequences for the families of O'Connor. I have long campaigned for changes to Youth Allowance to address the inequities in accessing higher education for our regional and remote students who face greater costs due to having to move away from home to study.

Whilst O'Connor is fortunate to have regional campuses of the University of WA in Albany and the School of Mines campus of Curtin University in Kalgoorlie, the vast majority of our school leavers must relocate to Perth to realise their tertiary education aspirations. Tragically, although regional students have more chance of being offered a university place than their city counterparts, less than 62 per cent accept their offer. Of these, over 16 per cent defer their enrolment—more than double that of city students. Others postpone their studies for 18 to 24 months to become eligible for Youth Allowance and then reapply for a university place. Last year, principals from schools in the Great Southern informed me that, although 80 per cent of the graduating class of 2014 qualified for university entrance, approximately 97 per cent were taking a gap year, largely for financial reasons.

I thank the current government and in particular the ministers for education and social services, who have listened to MPs from electorates like mine and heeded the outcomes of regional consultations from the recent Australia-wide higher education forums. I am grateful for the changes that have been initiated this year, which are benefiting families across my electorate. I thank them for the upcoming changes from 1 July that will see larger families benefit from the consideration of all dependent children when assessing Youth Allowance eligibility and taper rates. However, I implore them to continue to consider ways to make tertiary education more accessible for regional students. I note the member for Durack mentioned that additional rent allowance would be much appreciated. I believe the biggest remaining eligibility barrier for regional students applying for Youth Allowance is the Parental Income Test. These kids work hard to attain independent status by earning over a specified threshold only to be deemed ineligible due to their joint parental income exceeding the $150,000 threshold. I encourage the government to continue to try to even the playing field for regional, rural and remote students seeking tertiary qualifications, for they are our regional professionals of the future.

I would like to close by acknowledging some schools in my electorate that have achieved recent accolades that reflect the calibre of our regional education. Many of these are independent public schools, so I congratulate their boards and principals for the autonomy and innovation that they have embraced that is now paying dividends. Last year, Manjimup Senior High School was awarded the title of WA Secondary School of the Year, East Kalgoorlie Primary School principal Nicole Hanna was awarded the title of WA Primary School Leader of the Year and the Mount Barker Community College made the top 25 WA Certificate of Education schools and was ranked the top regional school in WA.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take the opportunity to discuss this motion of private member's business today because, as has been outlined, government speakers here on this motion have pointed to a number of initiatives that the government has put in place that they want to highlight as they have had positive impacts. The member for Durack spoke about the youth allowance changes. The member for O'Connor did as well, and they spoke about things like the Clontarf program. But what they have ignored is that that is so massively outweighed by what has been done in slashing the overall funding bucket not only for schools but also for vocational education and training. I have yet to hear much discussion about that, so I want to have an opportunity today to talk about that directly.

First of all, in terms of where we are with schools funding, I note the member of Durack, in her opening address, referred to the $30 billion that was cut from schools as complete fantasy. It would be absolutely true to describe those people's reactions to the last two Abbott government budgets as a complete nightmare. There has been $30 billion cut from schools in this nation; it is in their own budget papers, it is not difficult to find and it is even put into a simple graph so that you can see exactly what those cuts are. You do not have to take our word for it. Go and chat to some of your colleagues, particularly those from the National Party, in some of the states and ask them what they think about those two budgets and the impacts on schools—I will come to that in a moment. Across Australia, what the government's walking away from their commitments means is that there are about 1.5 million country students and they are facing, over the next 10 years, a cut of $12.5 billion in funding for their schools. In my own Illawarra region, that is about $391 million cut from our schools over the next 10 years.

The result of that, of course, is that, as previous members have indicated, there is a gap, a disadvantage factor for students from regional, rural and remote Australia compared to their city-based colleagues. We should be focused on closing that by putting in place the sort of needs-based funding that David Gonski and his panel, after extensive investigation, recommended. Indeed, that is what everybody thought they were getting prior to the election. The signs were out all over the place: 'Vote for us. Vote Liberal. Vote National. You'll get exactly the same on Gonski funding as you would with Labor.' Unfortunately, as with so much campaigning by the then Abbott opposition, apparently we had to read the fine print, which said 'only for the first four years'. Of course, the vast bulk of funding rolled in in years 5 and 6. That was not advertised. I still cannot find the fine print on those posters myself, but maybe somebody else can point it out to me.

On top of that, of course, there are the across-the-board funding cuts that occurred in the budget. This is actually what the sizeable impact of this government's policies has been on regional and rural schooling. It is a sector of all of our states that can least afford it. As I said, I just want to point out that the now Leader of the National Party, before the election, said, in his own words, 'I believe without a shadow of a doubt we will continue to commit to Gonski past the first term.' You can find that in The Northern Daily Leader from September 2013. His New South Wales colleague Minister Piccoli was very unimpressed with his federal colleagues. In 2014, after the budget he said, in his own words:

Not only is this a breach of a commitment to NSW, it is breach of faith with all school students in the State … Schools in regional areas, as well as disadvantaged and Aboriginal students, will be the hardest hit.

That is in his own media release of June 2014.

Let's go to the vocational education sector. We have seen $2 billion in support cut out of this sector, yet it is in regional and remote Australia that the biggest percentage of students actually go into vocational education training. In regional and remote areas 8.5 per cent of students go into the VET sector. Since 2012-13, we have seen a 13 per cent decline in the number of students from inner and outer regional and remote areas enrolled in vocational training. This is a direct result of the slashing cuts that this government has been making, which ignores TAFE' capacity to deliver for regional and rural students. (Time expired)

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in the House today to acknowledge the member for Durack's motion, which I wholeheartedly support. The coalition is committed to education in regional, rural and remote Australia, including in my electorate of Canning. Some 15.1 per cent of people aged between 17 and 22 years in Canning attend higher education. However, this figure is growing.

This government, and this party, supports education from a deeply held philosophical position. I believe that there is an unwritten contract between the dead, the living and unborn. This contract is realised through the passing down of knowledge through education. Education provides answers to enduring questions. We cannot have an informed body politic without education, whether it be a primary, secondary or tertiary. Education progresses society as we see advances in science, medicine and technology. Most importantly, in Canning and in other rural and regional areas, education provides the opportunity for social mobility. Anyone who works hard can rise above their present situation in a country like Australia. The member for Dunkley—and we are mourning the fact that he will be departing from this parliament come the next election—said:

I represent that your postcode does not determine your potential. We all have the capacity to learn, to grow and to gain insight and wisdom to succeed in this country.

I support those words very much and I am glad to see that our government is encouraging higher education in rural and remote areas.

Under the Australian Education Act 2013, additional funding is provided to schools in rural and remote locations. That is why the government is providing $22 million over four years to Good to Great Schools Australia to rollout the Flexible Literacy for Remote Primary Schools program. This will support 37 remote schools in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Without adequate literacy rates the whole community suffers. Communication is at the heart of our political and economic system. Canning, as I mentioned, is a diverse electorate. We have agriculture, construction, manufacturing and light industry. My electorate of Canning has many tradesmen. In fact, it has the second highest number of tradesmen in the country. Within Canning itself, particularly in Mundijong and Byford, we enjoy a high rate of year 12 completion. Each of these areas reports that between 32 and 45 per cent of students complete their secondary studies. It has been very encouraging that Byford Secondary College, which was established as recently as 2014 under the coalition government, has had its first intake of 180 new year 8 students who are eager to learn. Education is progressing well under this government in Canning.

I should also note that, in 2015, Waroona District High School had an average attendance rate of 89.2 per cent—and this is in an area where, compared to city areas such as the electorates of Perth and Curtin to our north, high school students traditionally do not go on to complete year 12. Of course, there is always room for improvement. In Mandurah, only 19 to 25 per cent of all students who begin their secondary education will complete year 12. The average weekly household income around the Mandurah region ranges from $699 to $942.

Along with 20 per cent youth unemployment, all of this contributes to the reasons why education is of vital importance to our future in Canning. The government is aware that students from remote and regional areas face various barriers to higher education. That is why I applaud the opportunities that this government is giving through existing initiatives such as the regional Student Start-up Scholarships for eligible regional students in higher education. These important scholarships assist with difficult moves away from homes in Canning, Durack, and beyond, for those students wishing to attend university. Canning is an electorate brimming with potential. Education is a key way to tap into that and to take us further into the 21st century. The results that we are seeing in our secondary and higher education in Canning are a fine example of how the coalition government cares deeply about regional education.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be speaking on this private member's motion, as providing educational opportunities to students living in our regions is vitally important. But the fact is that the Turnbull Liberal-National government has failed to properly invest in education, and it has failed to ensure that students—particularly our regional students—are properly trained and ready for the jobs of the future. In regional areas, it is the National Party that has failed the students of country areas. As I often say, 'National Party choices hurt,' and their plans to cut education funding have really hurt regional, rural and remote areas.

We know that education can make a real difference and bring real change to an individual's life. It can open the door to jobs and opportunities and, for our country, it builds prosperity and a secure economy. When we look to all levels of education—whether it is schools, universities or TAFEs—this government has repeatedly cut funding and repeatedly failed those students. In contrast to this, Labor believes in properly investing in our education system. In terms of the cuts to education, as I say, it will be particularly hard for those regional, rural and remote students. Make no mistake about it, the government's plans for $100,000 university degrees mean that young people from the country just will not be able to go to university. I have families tell me this all the time.

The government's secret plans to take over vocational education will be a disaster for TAFE. This comes on top of their cuts of almost $2.5 billion from skills and training, including $1 billion from apprenticeship programs. When it comes to schools, this government just has one policy—that is, to rip $30 billion out of funding for our schools—$30 billion out of our classrooms. I talked about National Party choices hurting; well, the $30 billion really hurts. It especially hurts in country areas. The government's $30 billion cuts to all Australian schools completely destroys the needs-based funding model. It totally destroys it. Let us have another look at some of those government cuts and what they actually mean. Those cuts mean an average cut of $3.2 million per school—the same as sacking one in seven teachers. They mean less individual support. They mean fewer subject choices. They mean less support for students with disabilities. They mean that literacy and numeracy programs are cut. And they mean less training and support for our teachers.

Let us just stop for a minute and look back to the last election, when we had all of those Liberal and National Party candidates running around promising everyone, 'no cuts to education'. They all said it. And they said, 'We have got an "absolute unity ticket" when it comes to school funding.' That was their pre-election promise. And in my area—all up and down the New South Wales North Coast; in all those seats—all those National Party candidates were saying exactly that. They said, 'No cuts to education.' This really shows they cannot be trusted, because what happened when they got into government? As soon as they got in, that is exactly what they did—they cut all of that funding to education. So it turned out to be a broken promise—just another lie; just something they said in the lead-up to the election. To see how harsh the cuts are, I will give an example from my electorate that shows how severe the impact on my schools will be. The Liberal-National government's school cuts will rip $176 million out of the Richmond electorate over the next 10 years. This just means those kids will not get the opportunities they deserve.

Education is not just a policy about equity and fairness. It is also a plan for economic growth. Only Labor has a plan to properly invest in education. Labor's Your Child. Our Future plan represents the most significant improvement in schools in Australia for two generations. We believe every child should have the same chance at succeeding in school, no matter what their background, no matter where they live—even if it is in rural, remote or regional Australia. Your Child. Our Future means the Gonski funding and reforms will be delivered on time and in full. This reverses the very harsh Turnbull government cuts. Our plan will see an additional investment in our education system of $4.5 billion for years five and six of the Gonski reforms, and will provide more than $37 billion over the decade. This investment will see every child in every school funded on the basis of need, and it will be a permanent improvement to our schools system. It will be a massive benefit to regional schools. Specifically, the plan ensures a very strong focus on every single child's needs, much more attention for individual students, better trained teachers, more targeted resources, better equipped classrooms and more support for students with special learning needs—all very important needs-based funding and, most importantly, for those kids in rural, remote and regional areas.

When I look to my electorate of Richmond, this means that every student in every school will get the support they need to reach their full potential under our plan. It is so important that those children can do that, because they are being denied that at the moment with the Turnbull Liberal-National government's harsh cuts. The government are making it harder for kids from the country to access education, whether it is at primary school, secondary school, TAFE or university. When it comes to regional Australia, when it comes to remote Australia and when it comes to rural Australia, only Labor will invest in schools. In contrast, the Turnbull Liberal-National government will just keep cutting. At every chance they get they will cut education funding.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since being elected in 2007 I have waged a long battle to get a fair go for regional students in the education system in this country. That was when Labor made deliberate changes to youth allowance that discriminated against rural and regional students. I commend the member for Durack for this motion.

It was my own motion on 28 October 2010 that called on the then Labor government to reverse their decision to discriminate against regional students in the changes they had made to youth allowance. That motion was the first defeat on the floor of the House for an incumbent government for a long, long time and represented what I think is a low point for Labor in power. I had to meet those students and families who had no choice but to change their dreams, hopes and goals as a result of Labor's discrimination. Labor had, as they are prone to do, disadvantaged regional Australian families and students to divert funds into outer metropolitan seats—seats they thought were Labor strongholds and in which they were desperate to find an electoral advantage. As a direct result, over and over I was approached by families, young people and their parents—families who just could not afford to send their children to tertiary education and young people who had their education dreams dashed in that one effort by Labor.

I heard about the parents—and this really hurt me—who had to decide which one of their children they could afford to send to university. The parents said, 'Well, because I don't have access to youth allowance'—that is what Labor did, took away their access—'I actually have to choose which one of my children can go to university.'

We know that Australia's geography and demography pose significant challenges for regional families, especially as their young people move beyond the education experience offered by very good country schools to secondary or tertiary education in larger cities. Many regional students have absolutely no choice but to relocate. It is not that they choose to relocate; in many senses they have no choice if they want to pursue their particular course. They and their families face significantly increased costs of living away from home.

Students from regional areas are less likely to finish year 12 than their metropolitan counterparts and are significantly underrepresented in tertiary education. A far greater percentage of metropolitan students go on to tertiary education compared to our students from regional areas—as the member for Durack knows well. Evidence has shown that the financial barrier of the cost of relocation often prevents more regional students from undertaking tertiary studies. It also affects their aspirations. If they believe their families cannot afford to send them, these young people just do not aspire. They make a conscious decision not to aspire to higher education because they know their family cannot afford it and they know they are not going to put their family under that level of pressure.

Of course, 14.9 per cent of students in Western Australia whose homes are outside the capital city defer their studies. Often that is simply so that they can earn some money to be able to study at university. I have spoken on and represented this issue frequently in this place. It is one of the core issues for us as rural and regional members of parliament. We have taken a very direct and active role in this issue. There are few issues that impact on students in our electorates more than this does, and we continue to work on this. Yes, on 1 January we made changes to the assets test for youth allowance, but this does not apply to non-independent young people—and 'non-independent' is really an odd way of saying 'dependent'. Dependent youth allowance recipients will no longer be assets tested. Removing the family assets test for dependent youth allowance will allow 4,100 additional dependent youth allowance claimants to qualify for the first time, accessing average annual payments of more than $7,000 a year. The change means that farming families will not have farm assets counted towards the means test for their dependent children claiming youth allowance. It is an important reform and a step in the right direction, but it is for non-independent youth allowance. The changes also impact on the income test component of youth allowance for a section of the community.

I will continue in my battle to provide a more level playing field for rural and regional students and their families, as will the member for Durack and my colleagues.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say that this is quite hypocritical of government MPs to bring forward this motion and during the debate cry out, 'Shame!' when it is this government that has cut billions from our higher education sector, including to universities based in my electorate like the Bendigo La Trobe University campus. It was this government that wanted to deregulate universities, seeing $100,000 degrees—and, in some cases, $200,000 degrees—introduced into higher education.

In Bendigo we are incredibly proud of our rural school of health which was funded by the former Labor government. That particular campus offers courses like dentistry, courses like physio and courses which regional students are taking up, and what we have seen from early graduation figures is that when you train country kids in a regional setting they stay in the regions. The suggestion from the government that all regional students need to go to the city for their higher education is a furphy, and it also means they are less likely to move back to the regions to work. The figures we are seeing from La Trobe speak volumes to the credibility of campuses like La Trobe in Bendigo and also James Cook University in Townsville—that when you train regional students in the regional communities they stay and work in the regions. Yet what we have seen from this government is attack after attack on our regional schools and our regional higher education facilities.

The most recent attack to La Trobe happened right before Christmas, when the university received a letter from this government cutting the funding to their clinical placements—meaning that they would have to take funds from other areas of their budget to fund clinical placement. If this government were serious about supporting regional students it would not have cut the funding from regional placements, from students studying at a regional university who need to do placements to be able to graduate and qualify. This is the nature of this government.

Let's now also talk about their funding cuts to primary and secondary schools, which have cost the schools in my electorate $200 million over 10 years. Regional schools would have been the biggest beneficiaries under the Gonski reforms, yet this government have turned their backs on these regional schools by cutting their fifth and sixth year of Gonski funding. Regional schools, small schools, remote schools, schools with a high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders cohort, schools that have a higher number of students with a disability—these are features of so many of our regional schools, yet this government have cut the critical loading. This government have cut the years that matter in the Gonski reforms. They have cut $3.2 million from every school—$1,000 less per student—in support, which is the equivalent of sacking seven teachers per school.

What has happened because of this government's cuts is that schools in my electorate of Bendigo are saying, 'We have the choice between employing a part-time teacher aide or SSO and watering the oval.' Watering the oval or employing a teacher aide! So what does the school do? Of course, they let the oval go. The kids do not have a place to play while the school has funded the teacher aide because they said, 'It's critical that our students get the support in the prep years and year 1 so that they can read properly.'

These are the decisions that schools are being forced to make because this government has cut funding from their budgets. We know from the results coming out of NAPLAN that our regional schools are doing it tougher. It is no secret in our community that, at the moment, postcode determines your education outcome. That is why, if this government is serious about supporting regional kids, it will put the money back into schools so that all kids, regardless of postcode, will get a quality education and have opportunities.

I was really proud to talk to a couple of dentistry students on the weekend—local students that have finished their senior secondary and are going onto dentistry and pharmacy at La Trobe. They have been through our public school education system, they have a scholarship from Bendigo La Trobe and they are about to start their course. They are examples of what great opportunities we can have in the regions with the right government support and investment.

This government has dropped the ball. It does not understand what it means to fund education and higher education in the bush, and putting forward this motion that we have seen today is nothing more than window dressing. It is them trying to deny the fact that they have cut so much money from our regional schools and our universities.

Debate adjourned.