Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Education, Senator McKenzie. Can the minister please update the Senate on the importance of the Liberal-National government delivering stability and certainty for students in rural, regional and remote Australia?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator McDonald, for your question. The Morrison-McCormack government believes that every Australian child, no matter where they live, should be able to access a world-class education, and that's why we're providing record funding for child care, at $8.6 billion rising to $9.9 billion, in childcare centres from Bamaga in the north to Dover in Tassie's south. That's why we're providing record funding for schools: $310 billion over 10 years, an increase of 62 per cent per student. And that's why we're providing record funding for universities: over $17 billion this year alone.

We need to ensure that we've got the policies and strategies in place to ensure that all Australians can reach their potential, irrespective of their geography. It's why our government instigated the Halsey review, which actually formed part of the $152 million regional student access to education package to improve opportunities for those young people who live outside capital cities. Since 2016, the Liberals and the Nationals have committed more than half a billion dollars in new funding to improve regional higher education facilities and places, regional university centres, and income support and scholarships for rural kids, and we're not done.

At the National Press Club, Dan Tehan, the education minister, released the NAPLAN review, with 33 recommendations about how we, as a government and a country, can ensure that country kids can access higher education at the same rate as their city cousins. It is not because they lack the potential. It is because of cultural issues around lack of aspiration; it's about achievement, which goes to the provision of quality services, right from child care through to our state school systems in regional country towns; and it is about access: whether they need financial support to study in capital city universities or whether they can access that right there at home.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator McKenzie. Senator McDonald, a supplementary question?

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister please advise the Senate what the government is doing to support teachers in very remote Australia and to support school communities affected by drought and flood?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I want to say: it looks like we're in for a hard summer when it comes to the drought, with no respite in sight for coming months. We understand that education is vital for wellbeing—physical, social and economic—and that goes for families, communities and individuals. It's why we're supporting schools affected by natural disasters as well as drought. We provided $4 million in the special circumstances funding for 25 non-government schools affected by floods in northern Queensland earlier this year. Affected schools across the state are supporting students, their families and staff, and the cost of this assistance has adversely affected the schools' finances. Special circumstances funding will help maintain schools' viability in the face of mounting costs.

Teachers who complete four years of training in a very remote school will be eligible to have part of their HELP debt paid. This will be available to teachers who start their four-year stint early. We're also supporting childcare centres affected by floods.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator McKenzie. Senator McDonald, a final supplementary question?

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, how is the government supporting universities for regional Australia?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) | Link to this | Hansard source

We're supporting them by providing record funding to Australia's university sector, because access is fundamental for young people to reach their potential. Our government has committed more than a billion dollars in additional funding, with $39.2 million for 21 regional university centres across regional and remote Australia. We've got an $83 million commitment to improving income support for regional students as part of our strategy for them to access education. We've got sub-bachelor and enabling places at university, because often regional students are lacking that connecting piece between the end of their secondary school education and the beginning of a bachelor degree.

We're making sure international students aren't just getting an Australian experience in Melbourne and Sydney. We're encouraging them not only to study world-class soil science but also to be able to go surfing in the afternoon at some of our beautiful beaches. We're also investing in rural and regional enterprise scholarships to give country kids the financial support to ensure that they can access higher education.