Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Coulton, it gives me great pleasure to speak in front of someone such as you—someone who understands rural Australia and can relate to some of the social disadvantages I hope to touch on as I talk this evening. We kept the election campaign for Mallee very simple—we said people who live in the Wimmera-Mallee contribute $5.3 billion to the Australian economy and all they ask is that they be able to drive on a decent road, be able to make a decent phone call—have access to telecommunications—have good educational opportunities for their children and know that when they go to the doctor they are going to be treated.

I want to touch on education this evening. In Mallee, the federal government has given $444 million, and from 2014 to 2017 the federal government's contribution has increased to the tune of 27 per cent. To give some macro figures, we are now spending $13 billion from 2013 and by 2020 we will be increasing that to $20 billion. But more money does not necessarily equal a better outcome. That is a challenge we have had to address. I want to touch on some of the social disadvantages that I think also feed into this. There are three things that constitute a good education. It is not just school facilities. School facilities are very much part of it, but it is school culture, and what I see in some of my schools that do not have great facilities is really hardworking teachers—teachers who go above and beyond, who care about what is going on in their school. The other thing that is very important in a child's development is home life. If children do not have parents who read to them and if they do not have access to a good breakfast, that is going to be detrimental to their education. So there are school facilities, school culture and home life.

I want to talk about school culture for a moment, because there are some quite innovative things happening in the Mallee. The Robinvale school has 415 students and 54 first languages. Have a think about that. It is arguably one of the most multicultural schools in Australia. They have a very active community and they have used Clontarf, which is an AFL football incentive, to get our Indigenous population engaged in school. They are now broadening that across to rugby. I got tasked with the role of playing football with the Clontarf boys, and it damned near killed me. I thought that was tough on me, until I played rugby with the girls. If you want to learn how to be tackled, just watch them—they can wipe you out. There has been a unique culture in that school, and they have fostered higher education outcomes. It is my hope that in 2018 I will take some of the students from Robinvale, which is the sister city of Villers-Bretonneux, across for the 100th anniversary of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux.

The other college I want to talk about, with their school culture, is Tyrell College in Sea Lake. Tyrell College has embraced the fact that they live in an agriculture community. The local John Deere dealership donates a tractor to them every year. They are the experts in no-till farming and they are doing some outside-of-the-square stuff with agriculture. They are saying that there is a strong future for agriculture. We are an agricultural town, of course, in Sea Lake. Around that culture, they are really developing a sense of belief in the industry that drives to that town and also a sense of self-worth for those children.

Just on that, I think school career teachers play a big part in a child's development and pathway. I fear sometimes that our school career teachers talk down our rural industries and country industries. They sometimes have a message to country students that if you do not leave, you have not been successful. Something that we need to foster in our career teachers is seeing just how dynamic the agriculture industry is in their own patch are.

One thing I want to touch on a little bit is about home life. There is a lot of talk that goes on all the time about Gonski, Gonski and Gonski. People in my patch will say, 'We want Gonski.' I say, 'What is that?' They say, 'I have no idea, but it sounds good. We want it.' I say, 'Well, that's fine.' If you look at the breakdown of Gonski, largely in Victoria and as administered by Victoria, all it is simply doing is giving more money to the school but it is taking away the maintenance program for the school to actually put the hammer on the nail and fix the roof. You would be very surprised when you look at the Victorian breakdown. If you want to breakdown what is the thing that is really holding back some of the students in my patch, it is the home life. The electorate of Mallee is the 10th poorest electorate.

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

It is an excuse.

Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not an excuse. You can sit here and argue, if you want to, all day in the Federation Chamber or you could listen about a patch that I represent—

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

You should learn something about the AEU.

Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, you might learn something.

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

I doubt it.

Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You might. Well, you will not if you do not listen. I will continue on. I want to point out, about the home life, that we now have one in seven children going to school without breakfast. It is very hard for a child to have a creative mind if they are hungry. My mother is a schoolteacher, my sister is a schoolteacher, my other sister is a schoolteacher and my two aunties are school teachers. It seems to be in my family you are either schoolteachers or farmers. They are very engaged in working with some of the more disadvantaged children. They will tell you that if a child is not fed, then they are not able to concentrate on their education and they are not able to develop.

When we start talking about education funding, I believe there is an argument for the federal government to be directing money towards breakfast programs. I commend James Merlino, who is the Victorian Minister for Education. To his credit, they have put $13.7 million into a breakfast program that will address 500 schools. Many of those schools are in my patch; I think there are about 30 of those schools in my patch that are getting this breakfast program. It is something to be rolled out; it is something to be really considered. In the area that I represent, which is a large food producing electorate, it hurts me that children are not going to school after having been adequately fed.

There is some work that can be done to bring those things together. I am really pleased to say that, a couple of days ago, I met up with FLO Connect in Swan Hill, which provides flexible learning options. They are taking some the children who have dropped out of the traditional education stream and are trying to re-engage them. One of the ways they are re-engaging them is that Woolworths and the local supermarkets in the community are donating food to that organisation, so those children are coming up there. They are coming up because they are getting fed and they are getting breakfast. Often, they would not have turned up. That was their motivation: they can come and get breakfast. They are then able to be engaged in the long-term programs that take those children, who I believe the system has failed, and get them re-engaged.

There is also the next challenge for us. A few weeks ago, I had a breakfast with the business community and they were saying, 'We cannot find skilled labour or low-skilled labour for the great opportunities that we have developed through the free trade agreement.' However, we also have these children. I went and met with them. They are saying, 'We can't find the next step for employment.' I think there is a link that needs to be made between the two. We are taking these children who are from homes where they have not had breakfast and the community is donating the food and the children are eating it. They are now getting engaged. We need an extra link in there, somehow, to take those children from that level to having enough sense of self-worth to be job ready.

I think the pathways program has some merit. It is, essentially, saying that we are going to train these young adults so that they pass the OH&S level and get a sense of some job skills. We are then going to put them in an intern-type program in an active workplace and then subsidise the employer to keep them on. That is something I hope will work. Many governments, over many periods of time, have tried different policies. I do not think anyone has hit the nail on the head yet for the perfect policy. I think this will breathe life into it.

Regarding school facilities and school culture, we have a lot to be proud of. Home life is a great challenge for us, and I strongly believe in breakfast programs. There are great ideas happening in our rural communities, and adopting those is a lesson the opposition could learn from.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for the grievance debate has expired. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 192B. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the next day setting.

F ederation Chamber adjourned at 19:31