Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, Senator Tyrrell, I will seek some further information for you from Minister Clare about the specific program you're referring to. But I might just quickly take the opportunity to give you some further information about the work the government is doing in relation to the teacher workforce generally. We acknowledge there is a teacher shortage in Australia, and it is 10 years in the making. Too few people have been becoming teachers and too many have been leaving. In December 2022, education ministers agreed to the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan, which sets out a clear pathway to address teacher workforce shortages. For the first time, the Commonwealth, state and territory governments are working together to tackle this issue. It's a novel concept, I understand, for people opposite—working together with state and territory governments—but, as a result of that, we have 27 actions in train across five priority areas: improving teacher supply, strengthening initial teacher education, keeping the teachers we have, elevating the profession and better understanding future teacher workforce needs. There's no doubt whatsoever that we need to invest in the teaching workforce. All research indicates that the best thing you can do for kids' education is invest in their teachers, and that's what we'll keep doing. (Time expired)