Education
Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (09:42): School is back, and I love seeing the preppies in their too-big uniforms with shiny new lunch boxes and excitement on their faces. Best of luck to all the kids for a good start to the year, especially those starting their VCE or VCAL journeys. Huge thanks to all the teachers and school staff for doing the most important job in the world. Enormous thanks also to the federal Labor government for their commitment to full funding of public schools – a very welcome announcement – and I thank the Premier, the Deputy Premier and local member Peter Khalil for their strong advocacy on this. Many parents have also passed on their thanks for this and our wonderful $400 school saving bonus, which has helped so much with the cost of uniforms, books and activities.