Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question, because it is at the core of the priorities of this government. Despite the global financial crisis, this government has seen the creation of 800,000 new jobs and has invested at record levels in education and skills—in all levels of education, be it preschool, primary school, high school, vocational education or tertiary. That commitment and that investment have been at the heart of our attempt to drive a modern economy to make sure that we have the skills and education of our people so that they can take advantage of the economic opportunities that become available to Australia and obviously drive innovation.

But that investment has been undermined by announcements by state governments in recent days that seek to reduce Australia's overall commitment to education and skills by slashing their funding to education and skills development in the Australian economy. Not only that, but they are sacking thousands and thousands of educators—thousands of people who are actually contributing to the development of skills in this country. We know that the Liberal and National parties have been briefed on these things and their spokespeople have supported the measures that have been taken. Yesterday New South Wales took $1.7 billion out of schools, public and private. Eight hundred TAFE jobs will be gone, and there will be a 10 per cent increase in TAFE fees. How is that going to improve education? How is that going to improve job opportunities for young people? In Queensland 14,000 people lost their jobs and there are plans to halve the number of TAFEs. In Victoria $300 million is being taken out of the TAFE system. How can we skill our people with that sort of attack on education and skills development going on in this country? (Time expired)