Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to rise today to speak on what the Albanese Labor government is doing to improve our education system. I thank the member for Lalor for bringing this motion to the House. We're really putting the effort in to ensure that the system of education in this country is fairer, more accessible and better resourced. It's so important that we do this work so that all children and our teachers have assurance that the system is going to support them and their ambitions. Our government understands that our job is to keep advancing the aspirations of our youth, ensuring that those who care for them are secure, and we know that that starts with full and fair funding for our public schools.

When I came to this place in 2022, it followed a campaign that was committed to undoing the damage of a near decade of neglect experienced by our public schools. It followed a commitment to putting public schools on a pathway to full and fair funding, and we continue delivering upon that commitment today. I really want to thank everyone who was involved in the campaign to deliver full and fair funding. It was a really important focus for the election campaigns but, more broadly, a really important public policy conversation to have.

The better, fairer schools agreement delivers on full and fair funding, a 10-year agreement with state and territory governments putting an extra $16.5 billion in the education system over the next decade and another $49 billion the decade after. This represents the biggest new investment in public schools by any Commonwealth government. It represents real resources for our schools, real funding for our teachers and real tools to give our children the quality education that they absolutely deserve. It's not just about money, though. It's about making sure that the money is going to the right places. It means investment in phonics checks and numeracy checks, areas that we know are absolutely essential in children's development. This money will go to evidence based teaching and catch-up tutoring for kids who do need that little bit more support.

We owe our schools the very best. We owe their teachers, students and families a standard of education that reflects a wider commitment to improved student-to-teacher ratios, stronger initial teacher education and getting our educators the respect they deserve for the incredible work that they do. That's why, for the first time ever, our government is delivering paid prac, curbing the teacher shortage by incentivising degrees in education and providing practical financial support for practical training. It means giving the most important jobs in the world a secure pathway for training so that, when the time comes for our aspiring educators to teach professionally in the classroom, our students get the very best.

I have many teachers in my family, including both of my siblings, who are teachers, and we have some absolutely incredible teachers right across the Chisholm electorate. I want to acknowledge the work that they do each and every day, thank them for the contribution they make to our nation and commit to doing everything I can as the local member to ensure that we always have their back. We know teachers get into the education system for one simple reason: to educate our kids to take on the future. It's the role of representatives in this place to ensure that they receive the appropriate support and compensation for that work.

It's because of our government's focus on education that we've been able to increase the number of students who are studying education courses, are studying to be teachers, when under the previous government it was, unfortunately, falling. Our government is working with state and territory governments to deliver for our schools. We saw money—billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars—ripped out of public schools, and we're making sure that we correct that course and that we fully fund and fairly fund our public schools in this country. This is an important priority for our government, it's an important priority for any Labor government and we know that the investments we make today are about the future. It's about the long-term stability of the education system, it's about making sure that we have a sustainable workforce of teachers who know that government is supporting them and it's about children getting the best education they can to pursue opportunities in the future.

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