Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, I attended the 40th birthday celebrations of my old school Safety Bay Senior High School. Safety Bay Senior High School was celebrating 40 years of public education in what was, when it was built, the very outer suburbs of the Perth metropolitan area. Perth has grown very much since then, and there are many newer high schools and even more primary schools that have been built to support the education of a growing population across Rockingham and Kwinana. Schools like Safety Bay Senior High School play a critical role in the development of a community, and this school has provided generations of Safety Bay kids with the education they need and which is indeed their right.

Labor is the party of education in this country. It always has been and always will be. The ability of all in this country to access public education and health care is at the core of Labor's beliefs. Whether it is university education, vocational education, high school education, primary school education or, indeed, early childhood education, it is only the Labor Party that puts education at the core of its focus every day.

While the dinosaurs in the Liberal Party argue about which man is the most able to hustle the votes of arch conservatives in their parliamentary wing and their membership, Labor gets on with developing policies that will improve the lives and education of young people. Under Labor, if elected to government, Safety Bay Senior High School will receive $2 million, Rockingham High School will receive $1.75 million, Comet Bay Senior High School will receive $3 million, Gilmore College in Kwinana will receive $2 million and Baldivis Secondary School will receive over $3 million. Across the seat of Brand, if Labor is elected to government, $37 million— (Time expired)