LABOR AFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC EDUCATION

Media Release

Bill Shorten MP.

Leader of the Opposition

This National Public Education Day, Labor is celebrating the immense value and huge achievements of our public education system.

The right of every Australian to access a quality education – regardless of background or circumstance – is the cornerstone of our social and democratic traditions, and the key to our economic success.

We also acknowledge the hard working teachers, principals and support staff who are the heart and soul of public education.

There is no better expression of Labor values than our commitment to building our public education system: from the Whitlam Government’s federal funding for schools to the landmark Gonski reforms. Labor introduced the Gonski reforms and remains committed to a needs-based, sector-blind school funding system.

We have committed to ensuring that computer coding is taught in every primary and secondary school, to ensure every child has the opportunity to learn to read and write the global language of the digital age. We will also boost the skills of primary and secondary school teachers to assist students to prepare for the jobs of the future.

In contrast, our public schools are facing an uncertain future under the Abbott Government, with this year’s Budget locking in $30 billion of savage cuts to education. Tony Abbott has also trashed Labor’s Gonski blueprint, and the students who need the most help will be the ones hardest hit.

We will fight the Government’s cuts every step of the way – because every child in every school deserves support to achieve their best.

If the Government cared about public education, they would mark National Public Education Day by reversing their cuts.


THURSDAY, 28 MAY 2015