Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Page for her supplementary question. The answer is that the significant national reforms which have been delivered in education by this Labor government are helping students right around Australia, including in regional Australia, to lift their standards and be well equipped for the jobs of the future and for a fulfilling life. In particular, we have invested significantly in low-SES communities. We have spent about $2.5 billion on what we describe as the Smarter Schools National Partnerships—focusing and targeting our investment where it is needed, including on schools in remote, regional and periurban Australia.

We also have a national curriculum for the first time. That means, whether a kid is in the member for Page's electorate, in a city electorate or in a remote electorate, they will get the same common learning entitlement that all Australian students deserve. That is an important initiative—one that has been brought forward by a government which has education right at the heart of its agenda and sees it as absolutely central to our nation's future prospects. As well as that, we now have national reporting on the My School website and we are applying national standards for things such as the teacher qualifications and standards I referred to earlier. All of these things go to the heart of what is absolutely crucial to Australia's future—to have investment in education, to lift student effort and to sustain our prosperity into the future. (Time expired)

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