Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to speak on the private member's motion moved by my colleague the member for Moreton. In recent times there has been a lot of discussion and debate about the opportunities and the prospects for baby boomers and the millennials. The nature of the debate at times has become a case of resentment and blame by one group for the other. This is understandable, as millennials face mounting burdens of cost associated with getting an education—a lack of affordability of university and TAFE education and training and mounting debt for university graduates—and then, of course, difficulties in finding employment, and even, as we've heard on many occasions, the difficulty—almost impossibility—of buying a house. Young people today point to the generations before them and feel aggrieved. Many refer to even my own generation as the lucky generation. Of course, my generation—and others before me—did start off on a low base and had to fight for our rights for a lot of things, including affordable education.

Education is the building block to every Australian's life. It's what gives us the ability to function and contribute in our modern society and to build or nation's social cohesion and prosperity. Without access to an affordable and relevant education system, my generation, at a critical time in our post-Second World War nation-building, may never have realised its full potential and therefore gone on to make the contribution it has made. Affordable education and the opportunities it affords were vital for my generation, and it's absolutely important and vital to our generation today.

Labor's understanding of education as the great enabler is marked by some of the greatest and most significant reforms by successive Labor governments since the Whitlam government swept into power in 1972. The most recent landmark reform in education in Australia came from the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments, with the Gonski funding reforms. In commencing the 46th Parliament we enter the third consecutive term of a coalition government. An assessment of this government's record in education and training is what the member for Moreton's motion aims to do. This motion lays bare in great detail the extent and impact of the coalition's cuts to schools, universities and TAFEs—cuts that have resulted in the future opportunities of young Australians being curtailed by the inability of the government to address the educational needs of Australian students.

For almost seven years now, Australian schoolchildren who are either learning or earning through the school, tertiary or vocational education system have been system suffering from underinvestment because of significant cuts, leaving young people in despair about their future employment prospects. The coalition government's achievements—or underachievements—in relation to cuts include the slashing of $30 billion over the past decade from projected school funding. Literacy and numeracy in schoolchildren has fallen. There hasn't really been any action from government to improve school standards. The dismantling of our TAFE system has let to VET students paying a lot more for courses. Apprenticeships and on-the-job trainings have declined. They've capped university places.

All around, the basic failure of the government to address these issues has meant that the people in my electorate have been very adversely affected. Calwell continues to be home to a large number of old and new migrant communities. My constituents, like generations before them, rely on education systems that are affordable and accessible and relevant to the demands and requirements of today's society. Coming largely from non-English-speaking migrant and refugee backgrounds, like my generation before them, my constituents need to have access—access is the key word—to the best-quality education if they are to realise their potential and go on to make their contribution. It is, after all, something we keep encouraging them to do, especially during citizenship ceremonies. We value education highly in Calwell and we aspire to give ourselves and our children the best possible opportunities. This is a time when globalisation has challenged us with opportunities and possibilities but also with changes that have left many people behind. The coalition government's years of cuts and neglect have been detrimental to my community, which is also, by the way, experiencing a youth unemployment rate of 25 per cent in some cases.

There is evidence of this government's neglect and lack of preparedness in the findings of a recently released report from the Productivity Commission, which recommends that the school system needs to greater prepare young people with stronger literacy and numeracy skills so they can succeed at university or broadly in the Australian community.