Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very proud to be a part of the federal Labor government. We have introduced and achieved so many good and important Labor initiatives that will improve the lives of all Australians now and in the future.

In stark contrast to the aggressive, retrograde, negative and policy-free crusade that the coalition indulges in, the Gillard Labor government is working hard, looking to the future and implementing Labor policy.

During 2012, I spent a lot of time travelling throughout metropolitan and regional South Australia, meeting with people who have directly benefited from the federal government's investments and reforms. I look forward to continuing to do so this year.

The Australian Labor Party have always been about striving to create and to share opportunity. We seek to protect and assist people who do need government support. That is why in our proud history Labor introduced Medicare; introduced compulsory superannuation; abolished Work Choices; investing in education and reforming schools funding through Gonski; supported jobs during the global financial crisis through our stimulus packages; introduced a carbon price and compensated Australians for the impact of it; introduced the nation's first paid parental leave scheme; managed to keep interest rates low and unemployment low; supported unions to run the first ever pay equity case that delivered wage increases for low-paid community services workers; given tax cuts to those who need it most; and given tax breaks to small businesses that are the engine room of our economy.

Labor's record is an enviable record of achievement and I want to highlight some of those achievements. In education the Labor government has invested record amounts in all areas. From early learning right through to tertiary education the government has ensured that children and young people have access to high-quality education, no matter where they are located, no matter what their level of learning or socioeconomic background is.

One of the most successful programs, I believe, has been the Building the Education Revolution. In my travels throughout the state of South Australia, I have met so many principals, teachers, students and parents who are all so positive about the BER and so confident of Labor's investment in education.

Across my duty electorates of Sturt and Barker in South Australia, the single biggest investment in education infrastructure ever undertaken has seen more than $259 million shared amongst a total of 170 schools.

I have attended many openings at schools across both electorates and, at each and every one, I was met by the entire school community with enthusiasm and optimism about the regeneration of their schools.

Towards the end of 2012, I was fortunate enough to revisit one of South Australia's great public high schools, Glenunga International High School. I have visited Glenunga a number of times and was more than pleased to be invited back to see the completion of all the BER facilities, as well as the new and exciting initiatives that have been put in place as a result of the federal government's earlier investments in the Digital Education Revolution program.

Principal Wendy Johnson and her team of talented educators have embraced their new facilities and have used the DER as an impetus to adopt the enormous opportunities for learning and teaching that new technologies can provide. Glenunga has shown leadership by identifying how these new tools can be used by teachers to deliver the curriculum, manage the school's administrative systems and communicate with its students and their parents and caregivers.

While I am sure it was initially a leap of faith for the Glenunga school community to introduce the digital technology programs for both the teachers and students there, there is no doubt it has been beneficial to the whole community. Students at that school will be well and truly ready for the challenges of further education, for work and for participation in the digital economy. That is exactly what the government intended with the Digital Education Revolution.

But it is not only schools that have benefited from the government's investments. As I said earlier, the Labor government has invested in all levels of education. Since 2007, the Labor government has provided more than $2 billion across Australia for preschool and kindergarten places. We have given 250,000 more children every year access to quality early childhood education. That is in stark contrast to the former Howard Liberal government that did not once invest in early childhood education.

Nationally, the government has made a $2.5 billion investment towards trade training centres, with more than $135 million benefiting 139 schools in South Australia alone. In the electorate of Barker, the Tenison Trade Training Centre, situated at Tenison Woods College in Mount Gambier, received more than $588,000 to provide pathways for students interested in cabinetry and cooking careers. The new Lower Murray Trade Training Centre at Murray Bridge High School is a $1.8 million investment, providing skills training to help young people find jobs in the automotive and construction industries.

In addition, since coming to office in 2007, Labor has opened the door to a university education to more Australians than ever before, many of them the first in their family to go to university. Thanks to Labor's investments and reforms, this year 190,000 more Australians will be studying at our universities than were enrolled in 2007 when we came to government. While I am on the subject of tertiary education, I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of former Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations Senator Chris Evans for his hard work and dedication to the education portfolio. He worked tirelessly to transform Australia's higher education landscape and to provide life-changing opportunities for all Australians. He will be greatly missed.

The Gillard Labor government has always believed that supporting families and giving every child the best possible start in life is the most important thing we can do. We understand the cost-of-living pressures on working families, and to ease those pressures the government has increased tax cuts, increased family payments, increased child-care assistance, introduced the new schoolkids bonus and introduced Australia's first Paid Parental Leave scheme. One of our more recent Labor initiatives that commenced on 1 January 2013, Dad and Partner Pay, gives eligible new dads and same-sex partners the chance to receive two weeks pay at the national minimum wage so they can stay at home for those very important first weeks of their new baby's life. The delivery of the schoolkids bonus has commenced to all eligible families, providing up to $410 for primary students and up to $820 per high-school student per year. The government is assisting families with the additional pressures of school costs and helping parents give their children the best start in life. We know that the opposition if elected will strip those cash bonuses away from the family budget.

One of the most crucial reforms that the Gillard government is currently implementing is the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The Gillard Labor government understands that Australians with disability miss out on the opportunities and fairness that should be a given in a wealthy nations like ours. For that reason we are investing $1 billion for the first stage of the NDIS from the middle of 2013, one year ahead of the timetable set out by the Productivity Commission. South Australia will be one of the nation's first launch sites for the scheme. From this July about 4,600 South Australian children aged up to 14 with significant and profound disability will start to have their needs assessed to receive individualised care and support packages to have decision-making power about their care and support including choice of service provider, and be assisted by local coordinators to help manage and deliver their support. The government is investing almost $33 million to make the NDIS a reality in South Australia, working in partnership with the South Australian Labor government to deliver this life-changing reform.

Lastly, I want to touch briefly on one of the most crucial projects currently being rolled out, and that is the National Broadband Network. With that, the government will deliver high-speed fibre to every Australian by the end of this decade. It will make businesses more productive and deliver better government services such as health and education. It will change the face of Australia's communications. It is a big and bold step, and the Australian Labor government is very proud of it.

When out and about on my travels, people ask me: what does Labor stand for? I tell them about the things we have done and I tell them we stand for opportunity and for fairness and that Labor's vision for the future is the best possible future for all Australians. We look after those who need it, we share the world we are so fortunate to have and we are not afraid to take the hard decisions. In the tradition of great Labor governments, the Gillard government has, despite continued obstruction from the coalition, been able to deliver great things for all Australians.