Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Courier-Mail newspaper has today reported that at-home learning enrolments in Queensland have increased by 229 per cent in the past five years. Today there are 11,250 students being homeschooled in the state. Parents are pulling their kids from Queensland schools in unprecedented numbers, and here's why: bullying, which is no longer confined to the playground but is entering every victim's home via social media; poor academic records and performance; and woke activist teachers and school curricula. In fact, one teacher in Queensland told a student not to do an assignment on me as his hero because in her opinion I was too controversial.

The nation's largest homeschool education provider said parents consistently say they're dismayed at what's being taught and what's not being taught in Queensland schools. These parents deserve a pat on the back for taking a keen interest in their kid's education and shielding them from the indoctrination taking place in our schools. Students must be educated, not indoctrinated. Students should be taught critical thinking—how to think, not what to think. They shouldn't be forced to recite acknowledgements of country, touching their hands to the ground. They shouldn't be taken out of school to attend protests. Any teacher that indoctrinates children should be sacked and never permitted to teach in Australia again. They can always get a job with a Greens senator who will happily indulge in their woke extremism and hatred of Australia.

One Nation is taking an education policy to the Queensland state election that will stop this indoctrination of innocent children. We'll focus on the basics to improve literacy and numeracy. We'll reward teachers whose classes achieve good academic results, and we'll put parents at the centre of education decision-making, ensuring they have a meaningful say in what their kids are taught. And welcome to the children up in our gallery today.