Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Nelson Mandela was spot on when he said, 'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.' An effective education system has the capacity to mitigate disadvantage and elevate all young Australians to achieve their potential. Education is an issue about which I am passionate, as someone who has spent many years working as a teacher. I have long believed that our school funding needs to be directed towards public schools, especially towards schools in our most disadvantaged communities. Every single Australian kid has the potential to live a full, rich life and to be a contributor to our country's economic and social wealth. Every school needs to be a great school. Every school needs to have inspired and inspiring teachers who are passionate about their jobs and their students. That is why we cannot afford to have huge differentials in the funding and outcomes of our schools.

This government proved its commitment to a fair education system when it commissioned the Gonski review, the most comprehensive investigation into the way schools are funded in over 40 years. This financial year, the Labor government will invest $13.6 billion in our schools, compared to a shameful $8.5 billion spent by the Howard government in its last budget. This comes on top of record amounts invested in the first four years of the Gillard government: over $65 billion in schools and around $22 billion for early childhood measures by the end of 2015-16. We have delivered the most significant education improvements in living memory based on Labor's values of fairness, quality, accountability and transparency, and we also recognise that there is so much more to do. Thanks to Labor, every Australian student will have access to a great education no matter where they live or which school they attend.

We have built or upgraded school facilities throughout Australia, and I do take exception to some of the outrageous statements that have recently been made in this place about the spending of the BER funds. Coming from the state of Tasmania, I can absolutely guarantee to this place that those funds were spent where they were needed and spent very well. In fact, there was a commendation by the Auditor-General of the administrative group that oversaw the spending of the BER funds. The group saw the spending come in under target, and they were highly commended for doing so.

Students and schools are benefiting also from $2.5 billion in the Smarter Schools National Partnerships. We have invested an additional $243.9 million in a new Improving Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership to build on the success of the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership, and $2.5 billion is being invested in trade training centres—and I hope those opposite do not think that the trade training centres have not been an extraordinary investment, giving high school students throughout the country, many of them in regional Tasmania, access to industry-standard training which helps them complete school and get a job. More than $706 million over four years is being invested in the National Partnership on Youth Attainment and Transitions to help more young people stay in school and successfully transition to work or to further education. And that is not all. This year the Labor government will finalise a National Plan for School Improvement to ensure that all students at all schools get a great education. We have also introduced the Australian Education Bill into parliament.

It seems a bit disingenuous to me for the opposition to suddenly turn around and pretend they actually care about the quality of our education system. It is clear that the opposition education spokesperson, Christopher Pyne, does not care, as he has not bothered to ask the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth a single question in parliament since 2010. Last year the shadow minister found time in question time to ask 38 questions. Not a single one was addressed to the education minister and only one had any relevance to education.

Last year Mr Pyne confirmed that the coalition would keep in place a broken funding model that could result in cuts of up to $5.4 billion from Australian schools. He also dismissed the findings of the Gonski review, which has been welcomed elsewhere across the country, not to mention plans to sack one in seven teachers, squeeze more kids into classrooms and slash funding to disadvantaged schools. The Liberal Party does not care about education. Labor works on the principles of fairness and equity, not privilege and elitism. The Liberal mantra requires a system that produces workers to produce wealth for a few; Labor sees every Australian as a valuable contributor to wealth for all.