Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

We are of course committed to the highest possible standards of education in Australia. This is reflected in our National Plan for School Improvement. I know that the minister has made several statements to this effect across a range of topics such as those described in your question. Whilst I do not have a specific brief on the issues that you have raised, I am able to say that, through the National Plan for School Improvement, the additional resources provided to schools will allow for a range of improved resources in individual schools to allow these kinds of issues to be addressed.

Improving the ability of each school to take on issues beyond just the curriculum and provide a standard of care and education that is as yet unseen in our generation is something I am extremely proud of. In fact, one of the motivations behind our National Plan for School Improvement is that we as a Labor government have to take what is effectively a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the face of education. We understand that, by investing in our young people, we are preparing this nation for the future in a way that is unable to be compared with any previous investment—so much so that our National Plan for School Improvement is the single largest investment in school education Australia has ever seen. By making that investment we show up those opposite as far as our respective policies go. They are yet, at least in this place, to get behind the vision of our National Plan for School Improvement, despite the fact that we have several premiers backing— (Time expired)