Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion today as the beneficiary of the Australian public school system. I know I'm a new member—I've been here for about nine to 10 months—but what really surprises me is the number of motions that come through this place that are merely congratulatory of the government or government led motions that congratulate themselves on various things. This one is no different. They're congratulating themselves on their investment in Australian public schools.

Australian public schools have an incredible role to play in educating our next generation. Across my electorate of McPherson, we have some incredible public schools and public school communities, and I know that there are many people in this place, on all sides of the chamber, who are the beneficiaries of that. But the one thing I would say to the government—I'd say it in relation to the public school system but also in relation to other forms of expenditure—is that, just because the government is funding something or increasing funding, it doesn't mean that the results are going to follow. If we look at history, that is exactly what we've seen.

In preparing for today's speech, I thought I'd take a look online to see where we're at as a country in terms of two things. Firstly, it's looking at the level of education and education standards in this country. Secondly, it's in relation to our teachers and their satisfaction levels, and our ability, as a country, to retain them in the profession but also to attract new people to the profession of teaching.

On the first front, there were stats that came out last year which spoke about our NAPLAN results, and we've seen NAPLAN results again showing that roughly one-third of students are not meeting expectations in literacy and numeracy. That concern is amplified when you look at students in remote areas, Indigenous students and people who are experiencing disadvantage, who are even further behind their peers.

On the second front, we look at teachers. I hear this all too often in my seat when I speak to people who are involved with the profession, when I visit schools and when I speak to parents who engage with teachers. There are clearly some significant issues in our ability to attract them to the profession in the first place but also in our ability to keep them there. According to recent data from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, up to 30 per cent of teachers are considering leaving the profession before retirement age. This comes at a time when student numbers are soaring and academic outcomes are slipping.

In 2022, under the Labor government, we saw federal, state and territory education ministers agree on a National Teacher Workforce Action Plan. Again, we see plans and funding. What are the actual results? That was aimed at improving teacher supply, retaining teachers, revamping initial teacher education and elevating the profession. Now we're four years on from that, and where are we at? Research has shown that the stressors that are leading teachers to quit the profession are only worsening.

So I'd say to the government, on yet another self-congratulating motion by them, that the thing that actually affects the lives of Australians is the actual results of what we do in this place. Saying we're going to do things, committing to doing things and even funding is not always, in and of itself, an end goal. I'd say to the government that, instead of putting focus on the fact that they're putting extra funding into this space, we should spend our time here—and we've got limited time in this place—identifying where the gaps are and strategically identifying how we can fill those gaps, because throwing money at a problem is not always going to be an end in and of itself. I'd be more than happy to come here when we see those stats turning the other direction. If the government wants to move a congratulatory motion, we can do it then.

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