Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There's a lot of rhetoric coming from those opposite today about governing for all Australians, and I agree with the Assistant Treasurer that it's a very interesting topic for them to bring, given their record in government over nearly a decade compared to what we have achieved already in one term and just a couple of months of this term.

There are obviously many issues in which we could contrast our record against theirs, where we are actually governing for all Australians and where they neglected Australians. I'm just going to pick one, and that's education because it's a really important one. Education is how you build the future. If you want to measure a government's priorities, we should start by asking: How we are governing for the youngest Australians? How are we investing in their education, their opportunities and their future? Nothing is more fundamental to fairness and nothing is more essential to national prosperity than ensuring that every child, no matter where they live and no matter their background, has access to a high-quality education. That's why this government has made huge investments in both schools and skills, investing in education at all levels so that all Australians, from the youngest through to older Australians pursuing new skills and training, have the best opportunities to take on the jobs of the future.

In regard to schools, we are delivering the first ever national agreement that fully funds public schools to 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard. This is absolutely huge. This is a historic step. For too long, governments—specifically, the last coalition government—left public school students shortchanged, forcing teachers and principals to stretch resources while parents fundraised for the basics. Let's remind ourselves of the recent history in this space. In 2012, David Gonski released the report into Australia's school funding, recommending changes with the aim of reducing the impact of social disadvantage on educational outcomes. The key recommendation was introduction of the schooling resource standard, a base rate of funding per student which would determine the required funding needed for each school. When the coalition came to government a year later, they tore up that Gonski report. They directed funds to less needy schools and left public school students to endure substandard resourcing. That all changed with the change in government.

We are ending that era of underfunding because we believe every child in every school deserves the same chance to succeed. I want to acknowledge the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, and the incredible work he's done in this space. Our government has invested $16.5 billion in additional funding to fully fund all public schools. We've introduced paid prac for teaching students to help with the cost of placements. There are more teachers in the pipeline, with enrolments in teaching degrees up 11 per cent this year. I want to acknowledge too that in the ACT, the community that I represent, we were the only jurisdiction that was already at 100 per cent of the resource standard, and that is, in a big way, thanks to our ACT Labor government and Minister Yvette Berry. But this agreement that our government has delivered has actually further increased that funding for ACT schools. As a parent whose children attend public schools I know that that is much needed.

It is really wonderful to see that every school around this country will now receive a 100 per cent of that resource standard and be able to invest in their future and give our teachers, who do such incredible and important work every day, the resources that they need to empower these young people to learn.

There's a particular focus with the agreement on ensuring that teachers have the things they need to stop students falling behind before it is too late—things like the year 1 phonics test, which is critically important to ensure that students at that age are learning the things they need to continue that journey. So I'm so proud of this achievement of our government, this historic Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which ensures that we back every student in this country—no matter where they live, no matter what their parents' income—and give them the opportunity for a great public education.

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