Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I agree with the previous speaker: the school breakfast programs are very good and volunteers are very important. But they are not the answer in themselves. We need to fund schools. Government is about priorities. Today, the Minister for Social Services talked about intergenerational welfare. Well, key to addressing social inequality is better education, not cuts to education. Labour went to the 2 July 2016 election with a pledge to invest $37.3 billion in education over a decade. 'Unaffordable', 'ruination' and 'debt and deficit disaster' were the cries from those opposite. So, what was their priority? IT was to hand $50 billion to corporations, multinationals and some of the wealthiest people in Australia but cut $30 billion to schools. That is the difference between us.

Investing in our kids and investing in their futures is the choice that Labor makes. Those opposite derided Labor's Building the Education Revolution but, by golly, they love to get their names on those plaques. The kiddies had to practically jump out of the way as Liberal MPs stampeded for the photo opportunity at the openings. In Lyons the former member, who I have replaced, officially opened the Sorrell East Trade Training Centre, in my neck of the woods—which I found a bit ironic given that it was a centre built by Labor and it was part of a program that his government abolished.

Labor knows that Australian schooling is falling behind internationally. The OECD reports that in 2000 only one country outperformed Australia in reading and maths and in 2006 only two outperformed Australia in science. We were global leaders, but today 16 countries outperform Australia in maths, nine outperform Australia in reading and seven outperform Australia in science. We are falling behind. If we fell this far behind in the Olympics there would be a national outcry. Labor knows that key to improving education is investing in education. Unbelievably, not only is the Turnbull government not investing properly in education but it is cutting funding for schools. Millionaires get a tax cut; schools get a funding cut. It would be funny if it were not so tragic. The Prime Minister's cuts will result in an average cut of $3.2 million per school across the country. My electorate of Lyons has 30 primary schools, two high schools and 18 district schools. That is $160 million to be torn out of the education capacity of my electorate alone. That is equal to one in seven teachers. That is a cut that my constituents and their children do not deserve. There would be less individual support, fewer subject choices, less support for students with disability, literacy and numeracy programs cut, music and sport programs cut, and less training and support for teachers.

Tasmania needs more investment in schools, not less. My state and my electorate lag behind on just about every educational index. It will not improve by cutting funds and teachers. How on earth could anyone think that giving $50 billion in tax cuts to wealthy corporations is more important than investing in schools? Those opposite will say that the tax cut will help businesses invest and grow the economy, but they should have stayed in school longer and learned how to read because their own budget papers admit that the cuts will add, at best, one per cent to GDP over the decade.

So what is Labor's plan? Ninety-five per cent year 12 completion; STEM teachers; students to have maths or science to year 12; digital technologies; returning Australia to the top five countries in reading, maths and science; and Asian language and culture. Labor knows that real investment transforms the lives and aspirations of Australian children and that real investment has national dividends that far exceed any initial cost. Labor knows that kids who get a good school education do better in life. We have a responsibility to every Australian kid in every Australian school to give them the best shot in life. That is a responsibility that this Turnbull government is failing every single day.

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