Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Being a Queenslander I can see that there might be some sort of favouritism taking place there! As an ardent Blues supporter I will be quite happy to sit in here tomorrow wearing my blue and celebrating the victory of the Blues that I know is going to take place in about an hour's time. No more prejudice, and down to the issue.

I am very disturbed about the fact that $80 billion is being ripped out of education and health in the budget, particularly education, because that is the key to a successful future. We must ensure that each and every student gets a great education. When they get that great education it prepares them for the future. Before the last election the Prime Minister and the Minister for Education stood up and said that they were on a unity ticket with the Labor Party. I can only say that their understanding of a unity ticket and my understanding of a unity ticket are totally different. I attended a forum in my electorate during the election campaign. Unfortunately my Liberal Party opponent did not turn up to the forum, and I can now understand why—because there was never a real commitment to delivering the Gonski reforms.

On Tuesday night I attended a Christian schools dinner here in Parliament House. The principal of my local Christian school and principals from Christian schools in my local area were telling me about how they had put their building projects on hold and how the uncertainty is impacting on their planning for the future. This flows through to the students they are teaching.

Catholic schools in my electorate have been particularly concerned about students with disability. This budget delivers a cruel blow to those students, denying them the disability loading that the Prime Minister promised would be there in 2015. These are all decisions that are going to impact massively on the students that I represent in this parliament. Not only will these decisions impact on the students and their families; they will flow through, having an enormous impact on us as a nation.

It is in stark contrast to what Labor did when they were in government—the review that resulted in the Gonski reforms being put forward to give each and every child in Australia a good quality education, the schoolkids bonus, the Building the Education Revolution program and $2.5 billion in trade training centres. In the most disadvantaged part of my electorate schools can offer trade training up to certificate level III. That is really important because these people are isolated, there is no public transport and they really need to access training to be able to get jobs. It is much better to train and learn than to be languishing in a Work for the Dole program, having no money and being forced to jump through hoops. It is so important that young people get the training that they need. The cuts do not end with schools. The broken promises on higher education will mean that university students will be forced to pay much more for their degrees. This breaks another promise that the coalition made before the election.

You can really forgive voters for thinking that this government says one thing before an election and another thing after it. The really sad thing about it is that it impacts on real people's lives each and every day. It takes away opportunity. It takes away from the whole nation, because when you remove opportunity from individuals you are also removing opportunity from the country as a whole. Students are going to have to pay a higher interest rate on HECS, and university courses are going to cost a lot more. That will have an enormous impact. (Time expired)