Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Carr. Can the minister please update the Senate on how the government is addressing Australia’s chronic shortage of people with maths, science and engineering skills?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Pratt for her question, which I understand is the first of what I hope will be many to come. Australia’s skills crisis is a legacy of the Howard-Costello government. For 12 years the Howard-Costello government failed to invest in skills. In 2006 the then Minister for Education, Science and Training released the audit of science, engineering and technology skills. This audit found that Australia was heading for a shortfall of 19,000 scientists by 2012-13.

We are entitled to ask: what did the previous government do about this? The answer is: nothing. It was left to this government to actually take action. In our first budget we allocated $625.8 million to boost maths and science skills. This included $562.2 million over four years to reduce fees for new maths and science students, starting from 1 January. This could save full-time students as much as $3,250 a year. The package includes $69.6 million over four years to reduce the HECS-HELP repayments for maths and science graduates who work in related fields including teaching. Graduates will be eligible for a refund of around half of their HECS repayments for up to five years, saving up to $1,500 a year.

Yesterday the Minister for Education announced that HECS refunds would be extended to graduates who take up primary school teaching positions, in addition to those in secondary schools. It is essential if we are to have more quality maths and science teachers that we nurture the next generation of specialists in these fields—and with a third of today’s secondary maths and science teachers aged over 50, the time to act is now.

It is also essential that children get a good grounding in maths and science in primary school when they are most alive with curiosity about the world. The national benchmark results for 2007 show that the proportion of students meeting numeracy benchmarks falls from 93 per cent in year 3 to 89 per cent in year 5 and to 80 per cent in year 7. We have to stop this erosion and ensure that children leave primary school ready for high-school maths and science. We also have to get more students sticking with these subjects right through to year 12.

There has been a steady decline in the number of students doing year-12 physics, chemistry and advanced mathematics. This in part reflects entrenched disadvantage and does, in turn, entrench disadvantage. Students from our four lowest socioeconomic groups are half as likely to do year-12 chemistry and physics as students from the highest socioeconomic group. If anyone wants to know why Australia desperately needs an education revolution in our schools then here is the answer. That is why the government is seeking to increase the capacity, the quality and the equity across the education system, and that is why we are acting to reverse 12 years of neglect from those opposite.