Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Amongst the most shameful broken promises of the Abbott government was the $30 billion cut to education funding. Before the election, the government's narrative was that there would be no cuts to education. Then, in the 2015-16 budget, we saw more cuts, including a $131 million cut from several education programs. One of the programs cut was the Endeavour Language Teacher Fellowships. The program was introduced by the Howard government in 2003 and had Labor's strong support. It financially supported language teachers, who travelled overseas to improve their language skills. This was an invaluable program, providing teachers with in-country experiences, including language instruction courses and opportunities to learn about the culture of the language they were teaching. It was a program that was accessed and endorsed by teachers in the schools that I represent.

The cuts are in stark contrast to the government's rhetoric about the importance of teaching language in schools. Learning other languages, particularly the Asian languages, will become increasingly valuable if Australia is to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the Asian century. I call on the government to reverse this penny-pinching cut, put its money where its mouth is, support the teaching of languages in Australian schools and restore the Endeavour Language Teacher Fellowships.