Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth. What is the government doing to ensure that every child has access to a great education?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for his question because I know that on this side of the House we value the investment in education that this government is providing, recognising that it provides a substantial suite of opportunities for Australian students to reach fulfilment and to build prosperity for the nation as a whole. In this year's budget we saw investments of some $800 million in initiatives. The Gillard government is now investing more than $64 billion—nearly double the amount spent by the coalition in their last term in office—because we want to see every single Australian have access to a great education and every Australian school to be a great one.

We have reforms that are benefiting every student, whether they are in government schools, Catholic schools or non-government schools. We have developed and delivered the My School website, providing transparent access to information on every school for the first time. We now have an Australian curriculum in four subjects—English, maths, science and history—from reception or kindy through to year 12. We have made available $2.5 billion in partnerships with states and territories, improving literacy and numeracy, really looking at the results of our low-performing students. That is about 1,900 government schools, 400 Catholic schools and 200 independent schools all receiving the benefit of this government's investment in education.

We also know that kids with disabilities need support. We were very pleased in this budget to bring through an additional $200 million to support kids with disabilities in schools. It will make a significant difference in those schools where teachers have kids with disabilities. For example, a deaf student might access equipment which provides text captions of the teacher's words very quickly after the teacher has spoken. This would mean that the student could access the teacher's instructions, including complex terms, alongside other students in the classroom with them. Other potential supports are occupational therapy, special equipment in classrooms, extra teaching hours and the like. Importantly, this initiative also provides support for teachers so that they can improve the planning and delivery of programs, lessons and activities that enhance the way students with disabilities learn and are included in the classroom. Every time the opposition are asked a question about education, every time we hear something from them on education, what we have on the record is $2.8 billion of announced cuts in education. The fact is that over 11 years the coalition put in about 3,000 flagpoles. In our time in government we have provided funding for nearly 3,000 libraries. There is no statistic that better sums up the difference between the approach on this side of the House and the approach of those on that side of the House. Labor knows that education creates skills and productivity; it enables prosperity. We are building Australia's future by making every school a great school, and the budget showed how we are delivering that in spades.