Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to build a better and fairer education system? What approaches to education would leave Australian students worse off?

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the brilliant member for Parramatta for his question. Just over an hour ago we passed laws through this place that will help more kids get a great start in life, that will help more kids get ready to start school. It will guarantee their mums and dads get access to three days a week of government supported early education and care.

If you ever need an example of the difference between us and them, between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party, then this is it, because they voted against it. They voted against legislation to help some of the most disadvantaged kids in this country get the early education that they need to start school ready to learn. It's a real-life example of opening the doors of opportunity for our kids, and they voted to slam it shut. And here's the kicker: the argument that they use is that we can't afford it. But apparently we can afford billions of dollars for bosses to have lunch on the taxpayer. There's the difference: a three-day guarantee for our kids under Labor, or a three-course guarantee for bosses under the Liberal Party.

And this is not the only place where the difference is clear. We're fixing the funding of our schools, and we're tying that funding to the sorts of things that will help children who fall behind at school to catch up through things like free tutoring. If those opposite win, that all goes. Free tutoring will be replaced by free lunches—again leaving our kids worse off.

If we win the election, we will also do something else. We will cut student debts of three million Australians by 20 per cent. If those opposite win, that won't happen either because they're opposed to that too. Here's the press release from the shadow Treasurer on 3 November, on the day that they said they're opposed to cutting student debt by 20 per cent. I promise you I'm not making this up. Their argument for opposing it is this: 'There are no free lunches in economics.' It turns out there are, but only for the bosses—a bit of vichyssoise on the taxpayer Visa card, a bit of taxpayer funded turducken. If you don't know what that is, that's a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey, which is the perfect analogy for this policy because I think most Australians will think it's stuffed.