Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is reform that goes to the core of fairness, opportunity and the future direction of this country. When we talk about schools, we're not just talking about classrooms or curriculum, we're talking about the future of young Australians.

It has now been one year since every state and territory signed up to this agreement—one year since governments across the nation came together with a shared understanding that the status quo was no longer acceptable. When Labor came to government in 2022, the imbalance in our system was clear and deeply entrenched. Every non-government school was fully funded or on a defined path to reach that benchmark, but public schools, outside of those in the ACT, were not.

That gap did not appear overnight, and it was not going to fix itself. For communities like mine in Spence—in Elizabeth, in Gawler and across Adelaide's north—that gap can be felt every single day. Public schools in our community carry enormous responsibility. They support students from diverse backgrounds, students facing disadvantage, students who need additional support to succeed, yet they were being asked to meet that challenge without the full backing they deserved.

The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement changes that. It sets a clear pathway to properly funded public schools and it does so in a way that is deliberate, structured and enduring. It represents the largest investment in public education by an Australian government, delivering an additional $16.5 billion into public schools over the next decade, followed by a further $50 billion in the decade after that. This is not a short-term injection of funding. It is a long-term commitment to lift standards, expand opportunity and strengthen the system for generations. If we want a stronger economy, a more skilled workforce and a fairer society, then the place to start is in our schools.

Importantly, this agreement is not simply about increasing funding. It's about ensuring that funding is used effectively. It is tied to clear reforms, grounded in evidence and focused on measurable outcomes, because investment without direction does not deliver change, but investment with purpose does.

Already we are beginning to see the encouraging signs that these changes are taking hold. Student attendance, which had declined significantly in recent years, is beginning to recover. After attendance had fallen from around 93 per cent to 86 per cent, we are now seeing more students returning to school, re-engaging with their learning and rebuilding routines that support long-term success. We are also seeing more students completing their schooling, with approximately 12,000 additional young Australians finishing high school in 2025 compared to 2024, a result that is consistent across school sectors and across both boys and girls.

And, just as importantly, we are seeing renewed interest in the teaching profession. After a concerning drop of around 20 per cent in people choosing to study teaching, enrolments have now increased for the third consecutive year. This matters because, without a strong teaching workforce, no reform can succeed.

At the centre of this agreement for educators is a commitment to evidence based practice. It focuses on identifying learning challenges early, particularly in the foundational areas of literacy and numeracy, through structured checks, in the early years of schooling, that allow teachers to quickly understand where students may need additional support.

This is not about labelling students as gifted or struggling; it is about equipping teachers with the information they need to intervene early and effectively. That early identification is then matched with targeted support, including small-group tutoring that provides focused, individualised attention, helping students to catch up where they have fallen behind and maintain progress alongside their peers. The agreement also reinforces the use of teaching practices that are proven to work, ensuring that classroom instruction is grounded in evidence, rather than trends, and that teachers are supported with the tools, training and resources they need to deliver high-quality education.

In a case study conducted in South Australia, we are already seeing what this approach can achieve. Through the introduction of system-wide literacy and numeracy checks, South Australia has embedded early identification into everyday practice, ensuring that challenges are recognised early and addressed quickly.

The literacy guarantee supports effective reading instruction from the earliest years, strengthens professional learning for teachers at every stage of their careers and provides resources for families so learning continues at home. At the same time, the numeracy guarantee is strengthening mathematics teaching through targeted professional development, specialist support for school leaders and improved curriculum resources. Together, these initiatives demonstrate how early identification, high-quality teaching and targeted support can work in combination to lift student outcomes over time.

This agreement also recognises that education is about more than just academic performance. It strengthens access to wellbeing supports within schools, acknowledging that students cannot succeed in the classroom if they are struggling outside of it. By supporting the whole student academically, socially and emotionally, we create the conditions for genuine learning and long-term engagement.

Importantly, this agreement sets clear national targets—targets to increase the proportion of students achieving strong results in reading and numeracy; targets to reduce the number of students requiring additional support; targets to lift year 12 completion rates and ensure more young Australians leave school with the qualifications they need; targets to rebuild attendance to pre-pandemic levels and close the gap for students who have been disproportionately affected, including First Nations students, students in regional areas and those from lower socioeconomic or lower educational backgrounds; and targets to strengthen and sustain the teaching workforce, including increasing participation in teacher education and supporting more First Nations educators into the profession. It strengthens access to wellbeing supports within schools, acknowledging that students cannot succeed in the classroom if they are struggling outside of it, because when a young person feels unsafe, when they feel excluded, when bullying goes unchecked, learning becomes secondary.

That is why the national antibullying implementation plan is such an important complement to this work. It recognises that safe and respectful school environments are not optional; they are foundational. When students feel supported and included, they attend more regularly, they engage more deeply and they are far more likely to achieve strong outcomes.

There is a clear connection between health and education. Students experiencing poor mental health are significantly more likely to disengage from learning, and, as this report states, by year 9 those students can be between one and nearly three years behind their peers in literacy and numeracy. That is not just a statistic; that is a warning—a warning that, if we do not address wellbeing, we cannot expect to lift educational outcomes.

The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement responds to that reality. It embeds wellbeing into everyday school practice, not as an afterthought but as a core component of learning. It supports schools to put the right help in place at the right time through better access to specialist staff, stronger connections to health and community services, and approaches that are tailored to the needs of local communities, because what works in one school may not work in another and flexibility matters.

Alongside this, governments are working together on nationally coordinated efforts to promote safe, respectful school environments, because tackling bullying, supporting mental health and strengthening engagement requires a collective effort. When we get this right, and when students feel safe, supported and connected, they show up. They participate. They succeed. That is what this agreement is about—not just results on a page but creating environments where every young person has the chance to thrive. That is fairness in action.

These are clear, measurable goals that governments will be held accountable for achieving, because what gets measured gets delivered. For communities like mine in the north, that accountability matters. It means that fairness is not just a principle; it is something that is tracked, reported and realised over time. It means that a child growing up in Spence can expect the same level of support, the same quality of teaching and the same opportunity to succeed as a child anywhere else in this country.

The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is about fixing a system that was out of balance. It's about investing where the need is greatest. It's also about backing teachers, supporting students and strengthening communities. And, ultimately, it is about building a future where every young Australian, regardless of where they live, has the opportunity and the chance to succeed. That is what fairness looks like, and that is what this agreement delivers. We know this won't be an easy or quick task to complete across the nation, but this first progress report for the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is a step in the right direction to continue to support communities like mine in the north. I thank the House.

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