Thursday, 12 September 2024

 Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for Medical Research) (14:09): Education is the single most important weapon we have against disadvantage. The single best investment we can make in our future productivity and prosperity is in education. Education is the centre of aspiration. No matter your postcode, no matter your gender and no matter your race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, education changes lives, and as part of the Allan Labor government we are building the Education State. Under our government, education is the password to a life of choice, not chance. It gives everyone the ability to live a life of purpose. That is why as education minister in the Allan Labor government I am so proud to see every day the work of our teachers and our students and the reforms we are making that are charging up and preparing the next generation to find a cure for cancer and to combat climate change.

We also know it is R U OK? Day today, and it would be remiss of me if I did not talk about our world-class Royal Commission into Family Violence. A humble little program, Respectful Relationships, has now become the flagship of the nation, and we could not be more proud. Every government school and almost 1200 schools across the state are participating in the Respectful Relationships initiative. Some of us attended Rosie Batty’s book launch upstairs in the library recently, where she spoke about the Respectful Relationships initiative being one of the biggest and most important things to come out of the tragic death of her son and the royal commission. These programs teach our kids the importance of respecting one other, respecting our differences and celebrating our diversity.

We want all of our students to aspire to be leaders in the community. We want all of our students to aspire to be members of Parliament. We want all of them to make sure that they stay away from trouble, focus on the classroom and do everything they can to live a life of purpose, because we know how important it is to stay away from trouble, spend more time in the classroom and do everything you can to be out of the court system. Courts only end in a bad way.