Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Kennedy can get himself an education, and then he might learn not to speak when he is ignorant, because this is the second largest export industry in Australia. And, if we do not invest in it, I can tell you: other countries in the world are not complacent about this; they are investing in it. Look at the school investments happening in China. Look at the school investments happening in India. Look at the school investments happening in Indonesia. They are investing. Unless we invest, we will not catch up. But, unfortunately, Australia is falling behind. We should be the envy of the world for our education system, for all kids in Australia, not just for those who have the privilege of having parents who are able to fund it directly themselves.

We are falling behind. The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study show that Australia is dropping from 18th to 28th out of 49 countries in year 4 mathematics, and the countries moving ahead of us are our regional peers—Asian nations. Australia has remained in the middle of the pack for the past 20 years while other countries are improving. Dr Sue Thomson, Director of the Educational Monitoring and Research Division at the Australian Council for Educational Research, has found not only that but also that a substantial proportion of our students are below the Australian proficient standard, with roughly half of students in remote areas at or below that level.

As Bill Shorten has said, every Australian child should have the same chance of succeeding at school as any other kid in the country, no matter what their background, where they live or what type of school they go to, whether government, independent or Catholic. Under this proposal, the bill before the parliament, there is no guarantee that any school—public, independent or Catholic—will ever get up to its fair funding level. A $22 billion cut means an average $2.4 million cut from every school in Australia. This is $22 billion being taken away from our schoolkids so that the Prime Minister can give a $65 billion tax cut to corporations, multinationals and banks. It is the equivalent of sacking 22,000 teachers. Labor will restore every dollar of the $22 billion that the Prime Minister is cutting from schools in this bill, that is because we believe that every child in every classroom deserves every opportunity. We want better schools, better results and better support for our great teachers.

I stand in this parliament as a publicly educated Australian. I have a commitment to the public school teachers and the public school students that a Labor government will deliver for them the funding that they need to build the egalitarian Australian society that we all believe in to ensure that every kid can realise their full potential in Australia. This is a bill about education but it is also a bill about the kind of country that we want to build. Do we want to build a country like many of our Asian peers are building, where if you are wealthy you can get ahead, you can do anything in life, but if you are not wealthy you are consigned to a second-class outcome, your aspirations are capped and your dreams have limits. That is not the Australia that I grew up in. That is not the Australia that I want to leave to my children.

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