Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This week, school gates have swung open across the country. Families are back to that familiar rhythm. This moment always feels like a reset, but it's also a reminder of something deeper: education isn't one stage of life; it's the thread that runs through it. From early childhood, through primary and secondary school and on to vocational training and university, education is foundational to lifelong learning. As students head back into school, we recognise the scale of the work underway to lift outcomes and ensure that no child is left behind. Through the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, we have, with the states and territories, made the biggest new investment in public schools ever—$16½ billion over 10 years.

This funding is not a blank cheque but is linked directly to practical changes that make a difference: year 1 phonics and numeracy checks, because you want to identify problems early so that you can intervene most impactfully; evidence based learning and teaching, such as more individualised supports like small group tutoring so students can catch up and keep up; greater wellbeing support—parents have been crying out for greater mental health support for students, and we're providing it through counsellors, wellbeing coordinators and mental health workers—initiatives that help attract and retain teachers and school leaders, including rewarding and recognising experienced teachers, as they are a national asset; and providing professional development for teachers through free online courses in areas such as phonics, STEM, leadership, explicit teaching and classroom management. You can go and check these out online. They're run by the University of Adelaide.

These changes, driven by a $16½ billion investment in public education, won't just succeed on paper; they will succeed in classrooms, delivered by teachers. There is positive news here: more Australians are choosing teaching. Say it from the rooftops! More Australians are choosing teaching. There is no more important job in the world than being a teacher. A teacher has the ability to change the trajectory of a child's life. Every Australian, no matter their age, remembers one or two teachers in their childhood who had an impact in their life; I certainly do. In that regard, they are social engineers and should be revered by us, thanked more often than just on 5 October, on World Teachers Day, and treated with the utmost respect.

Since 2023 there has been year-on-year growth in applications to study teaching. Those increases in 2024 and then in 2025 mean that we now have more teachers in the pipeline. New data shows applications to study undergraduate teaching for 2026 are up 6½ per cent and domestic university offers are up 6.3 per cent. That matters. It has happened because this Albanese Labor government has backed in aspiring students with practical support, including Commonwealth teaching scholarships worth up to $40,000 and Commonwealth paid prac so teaching students aren't forced to choose between completing their placements and paying their rent. This has been taken up, by the way, by 56,000 students from teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work. These are workers who are essential to the functioning of our economy.

Education ministers have agreed to progress work on a new Australian teaching and learning commission to ensure that our national effort is coordinated. We are undertaking keyhole surgery on the maths curriculum in the first three years of school. Those are formative years, and it's important that we get those foundations in numeracy and literacy right, because they shape everything else that follows. We are also revising the national teacher standards. These standards outline what makes up quality teaching. These will be reviewed for the first time in 15 years. This is an important opportunity to reflect on what modern teaching is and how we best support it. This is nation-building stuff.

While seeing more Australians take up teaching is great, we realise that retention remains an issue. Thirty-nine per cent of teachers intend to leave the profession before retirement. It's at an all-time high, and something has got to give. This is why we are investing in reducing burdensome paperwork through the Workload Reduction Fund. This fund enables the states and territories to pilot new approaches to reduce teacher workloads and to maximise their valuable time in the classroom with face-to-face contact with children. And we are investing in teacher welfare through programs such as Be You with Beyond Blue, which provides tools and resources for educators to create supportive communities for both students and educators.

When we talk about education, we're talking about the long arc of life. We're talking about the early childhood educator who helps a child find their voice, the teacher who notices a student slipping behind and turns it around, the TAFE teacher guiding apprentices who will build our homes and energy infrastructure, and teachers helping students become the thinkers, artists and innovators we will be relying on heavily in the decades ahead. Building a better Australia starts with making sure every child in every community has access to a quality education that puts them on a pathway to a better future.

How our plastic waste is recycled is big business for Circular Plastics Australia, based in Altona. This world-first collaboration between Asahi, Coca-Cola, Pact Group and Cleanaway recycles 20,000 tonnes of plastic per year, but it needs more. Plastic bottles come from across the country from as far as WA but also from places like Vanuatu. Why? It's because Australians are not returning enough plastic for recycling. Plastic container returns of around 70 per cent in the last quarter of 2025 mean that 30 per cent has gone missing, likely gone to landfill. We need to put our plastics into our recycling bins or, in Victoria, use the container deposit scheme. What I saw was genuinely impressive, a true closed-loop process. Used plastic bottles are sorted by an infrared scanner, shredded into flakes, washed and extruded into thin filaments and chopped into tiny pellets for reuse. These pellets are turned into test tube like moulds, which are then blown into new food-grade plastic bottles.

The wider problem of plastic waste is sobering. This is why the Albanese government has invested $1 billion with the states and territories in the Recycling Modernisation Fund. More than 50 new and upgraded recycling infrastructure projects have been completed, with more than 80 in the pipeline. Facilities like Circular Plastics Australia represent sovereign capability creating local jobs and turning a waste problem into an economic opportunity. To everyone at Circular Plastics Australia: thank you for having me. I thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

Australians have the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world, with more than one in three homes now with solar panels. But after 25 years of powering homes many of these solar panels are reaching their end of life. Approximately four million solar panels entered the waste stream in 2025. We estimate that more than 100,000 tonnes of solar panels will enter Australia's waste stream by 2035. Right now, only 17 per cent of these solar panels are being recycled. South Australia, Victoria and the ACT have banned sending solar panels to landfill, because they are packed full of valuable materials like copper, silver, aluminium and silicon.

The Albanese Labor government is investing $25 million over three years to deliver a national pilot program to recycle solar panels, establishing 100 pilot collection sites throughout the country. This will mean less waste, more recovery of valuable minerals and a stronger clean energy supply chain. There is also a huge economic prize here: we stand to unlock up to $7.3 billion from reducing waste and keeping these materials in circulation. This is a great career pathway for young Australians to consider. Find out more at the Australian Resources Recovery Council website.