Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this new parliament not just as a senator but as a former teacher and educator. I rise proud to be part of a political movement that places education for all at the heart of our national project. It's not just policy; it's principle. As the daughter of Irish immigrants, it was education that opened the door of opportunity in my life. That was an opportunity that brought me to this place and to be the first in my family to attend university.

In our last term, we made TAFE free for 600,000 Australians. We made early education cheaper by guaranteeing three days of subsidised child care and introduced paid prac. In 2011, when I sat in the other chamber, the Gonski review outlined the urgent need for fair and transparent school funding. Labor acted on those recommendations and, when those opposite took government, those reforms were reversed. For nine long years, Australia went backwards. We fell behind the rest of the world.

I am now very proud to say, as a teacher and as a Labor woman, that we have committed to fully funding all public schools—because every Australian child, no matter their background, no matter where they live, deserves access to a quality education. That work will bear fruit for our children and, through them, for our nation.

Today, my colleagues in the House have introduced legislation to cut all student debt by 20 per cent. When that legislation reaches this chamber, I will proudly vote for it, because that is what Labor does. We back students. We back teachers. We will build a fairer future for all Australians. We said we were going to cut HECS by 20 per cent. Today, we fulfilled that promise by bringing that legislation to the parliament. We are getting on with the job of governing for all Australians.