Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to address today what I have referred to previously as the binary challenge for a federal government, and that of course is securing the nation's economy—a safe and secure community where opportunities are available to people of every background—while dealing with the flip side, which is innovative and progressive social policy that ensures that the money collected by government, as cautiously and prudently as possible, is spent in a way that has maximum impact. An easy way of breaking that down is health, education and social policy. In those three areas, the coalition has increasingly been the vanguard party improving these elements and helping people answer: how do I secure an education for my family, how do I maximise healthcare outcomes and how do I ensure that young people in my family get a job? Most importantly, and I think my colleague across this chamber will agree, as the other registered medical specialist in this building, there is the importance of identifying vulnerable children early and engaging with them as soon as possible, once they're detected by healthcare providers.

That hasn't always been easy. There aren't many doctors who would confidently say that they're prepared to screen an 18-month-old baby at general practice level to work out what's going on, but increasingly we must do it because the specialists are able do it if there's just a glimmer of suspicion from those that are at the primary care interface. So we're asking nurses, practice managers and childcare workers to think more about childhood vulnerability and be part of ensuring this net does not allow these beautiful children—born not vulnerable, but becoming vulnerable by virtue of their circumstances—to arrive at school at the age of five and unable to pick up a pen; unable to read letters; unable to identify colours, shapes and numbers—the basics that you need to hitch that young fate onto the train of education. Those five years are incredibly important, not just self-evidently; they are where we can most effectively and most cost-effectively intervene and make a difference. I'm glad that is a priority for the friends of early learning, which is a bipartisan group in this building.

We're working very, very assiduously also on identifying the school interventions that are most effective, and we've seen Gonski 2 with important recommendations. I've previously called it a solo flight looking at the greatest education systems in the world, but they ultimately have to be applied here in what I'm describing as an overworked teacher population. There are 300,000 Australian teachers, who we love dearly and we admire incredibly, but we underpay them and expect that the love and admiration will make up for that. It's fine to be passionate about your public policy position as a doctor, a nurse or an emergency service worker, but, ultimately, I want teachers paid for the hours they do and I'd like to see schools in disadvantaged areas being rewarded for the transformations they achieve with their children. Let's have that kind of social policy pushed by both sides of this chamber.

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

There being no further constituency statements by honourable members, the next item of business will be called on.