Senate debates

Monday, 3 December 2018

Matters of Public Importance

Education

4:57 pm

Photo of Deborah O'NeillDeborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise to speak on this matter of public importance, because it is indeed a matter of great importance to every family who prepared this morning, got the lunches ready, got the bags packed and sent the kids off to school with the great hope of public education to be the transformative agent in their life to ensure that they fulfil their potential as great Australians, giving them every chance to be the best Australian they can be, whether they walk through the gate in a regional area of your state of Queensland, Acting Deputy President O'Sullivan, in the middle of a city in my state of New South Wales or, indeed, down in Tasmania or across the nation.

Young people going to school in Australia deserve access to the very best education that this country can afford to give them. Today I rise to speak to this very important matter of making sure that our public schools are fully funded in order that the extra teachers that are needed are actually able to be in schools, do the teaching and enable the learning that helps create that success in schools. They also need teachers' resources—great resources that help young people. Especially in this digital age, the capacity to really individually tailor students' learning using resources that exist outside the classroom but under the careful facilitation of great educators makes the world of difference to success for individual learners so they reach their potential at whatever stage of education they may be. Indeed, we all know as we send our kids off to school—I'm a mother of three—that they're individuals. They all have individual learning needs that are very varied child to child. And we know that more money to allow that individual attention, to deal with the real-time learning of individual children, is going to enhance the outcomes for this nation.

The final matter that's indicated in this MPI this afternoon is support for kids with special needs. Sadly, we have this government's record in terms of discerning the needs of children with special needs and going through with their many, many commitments to provide transparency to the parents who are waiting and yearning for information from this government. Sadly, they were very disappointed, because information was stripped back and contained within the government. It was made unavailable to parents, who wanted to know what was going to happen with the disability funding that was so needed for their particular child. This government has failed on all of those fronts—in fact, there have been very significant cuts to education.

They will try to do the old pea-and-thimble trick and say, 'Oh, we've got more money here.' The reality is that this government has cut funding very significantly for young Australians across this nation. Across the country, Labor is fighting very hard to make sure of the funding our kids need, the proper funding where this government said—if we can remember as far as back when Mr Abbott came in as Prime Minister—that they would match Labor's funding, the Gonski funding, dollar for dollar. Well, they've reneged on that.

While we were all out living our lives, they've gone back to a deal, which they call Gonski 2.0. They're trying to pretend that it's better, but in fact it's a cut. I am, like other great advocates for our community and for education, and as a member of the Labor Party, out there fighting to make sure that this government is not returned and that we can make the proper investment in education that the first Gonski model offered, which was to deal with the reality that kids across the country are all at different levels because of the way this federal government and the state governments do deals about how things are funded. It's not fair, if one state is very severely underfunded, to just give them all the same—that's not fairness. If you happen to be born in Tasmania and you're missing out, that won't give you the start you need in life.

Right now, in New South Wales, I'm working closely with a number of great candidates who are going to seek election at the federal election. That may come, as Mr Turnbull wants it, on 2 March next year. Or perhaps Mr Morrison will win and it will be in May or any time in between. We just don't know from day to day what this government is doing, it's so chaotic and out of control. But Labor knows what it believes. We will retain our commitment to public schools and to public education always. There is $14 million in play to make sure that we get the full funding to public schools—funding for extra teachers, funding for resources, funding for individual attention for students and extra support for kids with special needs. That's what that $14 million will do.

And what did this government want to do? They wanted to give billions—billions!—to the big banks. We have prevented that—that's what an opposition does—but we want to make sure that the kids who have been sacrificed by this government, with its failure to commit properly to public education, don't miss out any longer.

I want to talk about the great candidate that we have in Robertson, Anne Charlton. Anne Charlton is fighting for $18 million for the Central Coast, which it will miss out on if this government is re-elected. Brisbane Water Secondary College's Umina campus would lose $1.2 million. Imagine what they could do with that for local kids? Terrigal High School—this government thinks that the suburb of Terrigal is their friend and that they're not going to be contested at all. But Terrigal High School parents are smart enough to know that Anne Charlton, Labor's candidate, will stand up for them, and that Lucy Wicks, who has let our community down on so many fronts, wants to take $1.13 million away from Terrigal High School. Gosford High School is one of the schools that we're very proud of in the region. It draws students from all over the area. It's a school for very talented young people. They will lose $1.12 million under this government because it went to Gonski 2.0 and took $14 billion away from education. Narara Valley High School will lose $1.2 million.

But it's not just where I live on the Central Coast that's going to be impacted, it's right across the country. I will go to the seat of Hume. Mr Angus Taylor, the member for Hume, is currently out there telling everybody what a great job he's doing for them. He's waving around his big stick that he's going to fix electricity with. Today he said that he might be able to put it back in the bag. I don't know what you do with a big stick in a bag or why you'd pull one out. Surely, the government should be doing better than that.

But, with regard to education, our candidate, Aoife Champion, is fighting really, really hard to make sure that schools don't miss out: Picton High School, $1.4 million; Camden High School, $1.34 million; Elizabeth Macarthur High School, $1.13 million; Elderslie High School, $1.13 million. In total, the seat of Hume stands to lose $20,970,000 if this government is re-elected. But Labor will invest in education.

In the seat of the Riverina, Mr Mark Jeffreson is fighting for $24 million for his local community—for Wagga Wagga High School, for Kooringal High School, for Parkes High School, and Mount Austin High School—they will lose over $1 million. In the seat of Parkes, I spent a fantastic day campaigning with young Jack Ayoub. He lives in Coonabarabran and is running for Parkes. He is fighting for $34 million for his local schools: $1.2 million for Dubbo College South Campus; Broken Hill High School, $990,000—what a difference do you think $990,000 could do for kids who live right out on the border of the great state of New South Wales?—Moree Public School, $970,000; Dubbo South Public School, $91,000.

In the seat of Cook—the Prime Minister's own seat—Simon O'Brien, who grew up in the area and is a true son of the shire, is fighting for $15 million that the Prime Minister wants to take away from the kids in his own area—shame on him—$1.2 million taken away from Port Hacking High School; Endeavour Sports High School losing $1.1 million; Cronulla, $1 million, Woolooware High School. Finally, can I talk about the teacher amongst this great crop of candidates for Labor, Kieran Drabsch. He is the candidate for the seat of Farrer, and he is fighting for $24.8 million for his local community, in schools like Albury High School, Wade High School, James Fallon High School and Griffith High School.

I do enjoy working on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services with Senator Williams down there, but this has happened. The problem I describe is because the National Party has not stood up to the Liberal Party and those seats that I spoke to you about have country kids—country kids in New South Wales, who need great investment in them. I believe in them. I'm sure you believe in them. The problem is this government doesn't believe in fair funding for education. (Time expired)

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