Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a real, stark difference between Labor and the coalition—in particular, the sheer disparity between Australia's two major parties on education. You see, Labor knows that the only way to ensure Australia is great into the future is through education, whether it's in a primary school, a high school, a university or a TAFE. The only way to prepare Australia's future workforce is by giving workers the skills and knowledge that they need.

Education should be any good government's priority. But this is not a good government, and education is far from being a priority for it. Let's take the whole Gonski 2.0 debacle, for example. The Liberals snubbed their noses at Labor's plan for true needs based funding when we first called for it. Then they saw the overwhelming support, so they promised to match it and match Labor's commitment. You'll remember hearing that slogan, 'No cuts to schools. Dollar for dollar, we'll match it.' We all remember that—all of Australia does. But of course that promise was twisted and construed until it meant something completely different. And look where it has landed us: $17 million has been stripped away from the education budget. And this government tries to spin that as a good thing. It's absolutely appalling. This government blatantly disrespects the Australian people, time and time again.

In the last few months, I've visited a number of schools in my electorate, as I do on a regular basis throughout the year. Sometimes, in the last few months, it has been for graduations and award ceremonies or simply just to go and have a chat with some students. One of those chats I had recently was with students at the Alta-1 school in Caboolture. It is one of our special assistance schools that does some really fantastic work in our area. As a special assistance school, Alta-1 services the needs of those particularly disadvantaged students—the kids who have just fallen through the cracks of mainstream schooling.

Another one of those schools is Horizons College. I was at Horizons the other day, at a graduation ceremony. One hundred per cent of those students at that special assistance school either graduated with a certificate of education or graduated with a trade certificate. That's a fantastic outcome.

These are the sorts of schools that need our support, not the fancy private institutions that charge tens of thousands of dollars in fees. But it's the students like those at Alta-1 and Horizons who've been let down by this government—not just when it comes to true needs based funding, which they've been denied under the Turnbull government, but also when it comes to the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program, which we fondly know as HEPPP.

It is the HEPPP funding that the education minister, Simon Birmingham, has now brought out onto the chopping block. Because this government has just wasted over $100 million on a harmful and divisive plebiscite, and because this government is showering big business with $65 billion in corporate tax cuts, the government is now looking to cut funding from anything in its sight. Because this government knows that Labor will stand against any harmful cuts to education, it seems to me that Minister Birmingham is now looking to cut whatever doesn't require parliamentary approval. This, of course, includes HEPPP funding. Labor introduced this funding to help get more people from disadvantaged backgrounds into university. This funding meant that 36,000 additional students from low-income families were able to get a tertiary education—students in my electorate from Dakabin, Burpengary, Woodford, Morayfield and Caboolture. This funding saw Indigenous admissions rise by 26 per cent, and in some of my schools we have Indigenous populations of 20 per cent. This funding saw an Indigenous admission rise, and it saw the number of regional students rise by 30 per cent. Despite these incredible, quantifiable outcomes, the government wants to cut this funding so it can give a $16,000 tax handout to millionaires.

I have been recently speaking to Professor Greg Hill, who is, of course, the Vice Chancellor and President of the University of the Sunshine Coast. We're really excited about having the University of the Sunshine Coast in Caboolture now. They are great advocates for education. They know what a difference education can make in a child's life. For this to be a success, students need a pathway to university, they need government assistance and they need the HEPPP funding. (Time expired)