Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. It is always such a pleasure to see you in the chair. The American philosopher John Dewey once said:

What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children.

Those words are more than a century old but they still speak of the hope that all parents have for their children—the hope that their kids get a good education, that there will be a job for them when they are grown and that they are healthy and prepared to step out into the world. But Dewey's words, and that hope, have been betrayed by this government and its unfair, chaotic budget.

The best thing we can do for individual kids—kids like those up in the galleries today—and for the prosperity of our nation, is to invest in education. But what has this government done? It has cut $1 billion from child care. It has cut 650 trades training centres. It has cut $1 billion from the Tools for your Trade program. It has cut $30 billion from school funding. The fairer Gonski school funding model has been abandoned, which means that the kids who need the most help will not get it under this government. The School Kids Bonus and family tax benefit part B have been cut. But perhaps nothing underscores the Abbott government's true values more than their cuts to universities.

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