Thursday, 20 March 2025

Motions

Education policy

Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Minister for Police, Minister for Community Safety, Minister for Victims, Minister for Racing) (21:01): I move:

That this house recognises the Allan Labor government’s commitment to working families by expanding free breakfast clubs, saving parents $400 through the school saving bonus and extending the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund, ensuring every student has access to essential programs, no matter their circumstances.

I would not mind continuing my contribution on those matters for maybe the next half an hour. I have got plenty to say. I might just start –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Polwarth can leave the chamber for an hour. The member for Mornington can leave the chamber for half an hour.

Members for Polwarth and Mornington withdrew from chamber.

Anthony CARBINES: I will talk about a school breakfast program in West Heidelberg in my electorate, where 50 per cent of the community live in public housing, at the Olympic Village Primary School rebuilt by Labor – a $6 million new school in my electorate funded by the Labor government. I was very pleased to head out there in November last year with the Deputy Premier, the Minister for Education, and the Premier of Victoria to kick off the fantastic contribution of our school breakfast program. We have seen a fantastic effort, with some thousand schools already participating in the school breakfast program. We saw $21 million in the budget just last year and, since 2016, $162 million contributed to that program.

To have the school breakfast program at a brand new school in West Heidelberg of $6 million built by the Andrews and Allan Labor governments in my electorate is a demonstration of the contribution that we are prepared to make to hardworking families in my electorate. Can I say also that not only have we delivered that program, but we did not cut the education maintenance allowance, like those opposite did when they were last in government. Free Fruit Friday was also cut by those opposite when they were in government. That was the mean and nasty streak of the Baillieu and Napthine governments. We will never forget it. We remember the school closures under that dreadful Jeffrey Kennett. We will never forget it. And they tried to privatise the Austin Hospital in my electorate too. How did that go? You should ask Mr Vin Heffernan. They have never voted Liberal again in the Ivanhoe electorate, and they have never had a look in in Ivanhoe ever since that time.

I do not mind also pointing out that when we were at the Olympic Village Primary School we saw something like $287 million in the 2024–25 budget to ease the cost-of-living pressures, ease the squeeze on families, through the school saving bonus. I have also seen the benefit of the school saving bonus in my community and further cost-saving measures – cost-of-living benefits for the community in my electorate and for so many other electorates right across the state.

Members interjecting.

The ACTING SPEAKER (John Mullahy): Order! There is too much audible noise.

Anthony CARBINES: Thank you very much, Acting Speaker. Can I also say that we actually talked about in November last year in my electorate the 50-millionth meal in the school breakfast program provided to students in the West Heidelberg community. And I tell you what, they know great support when it is coming their way.

Olympic Village Primary School was built in the 1950s for the Olympic Games, a new school that was rebuilt there in West Heidelberg – a $6 million new school. We also have a new State Emergency Service built on the site of the old Heidelberg West police station, in fact just around the corner. We have also seen the Tarakan housing estate rebuilt. We have also seen an announcement just this week in terms of the Bell-Bardia housing estate, costing some $27.5 million, on the Bell-Bardia site – $27 million from our government and also the federal government. It is about cost-of-living changes and about supporting communities. If the Olympic Village Primary School is going to be rebuilt for $6 million under our government, what we also need to make sure happens is that we have got places for people in my community to live, a community that is represented by some 50 per cent by public housing tenants in West Heidelberg.

We see that support for those communities in West Heidelberg at election time with the work that they do backing in Labor governments time and time again, who back them locally. There is nothing quite like the tsunami of support that comes through West Heidelberg on election night, and we get that support because we backed them with a brand new school in West Heidelberg with Olympic Village Primary School. We backed them with the new Tarakan housing estate, the Bell-Bardia housing estate, the housing estate there in Bellfield by Launch Housing and the Ford Park redevelopment of two new ovals on one site. We see it through North Heidelberg at Olympic Park there, the great work that they do – $8 million from our government there in West Heidelberg. As a former Banyule city councillor in West Heidelberg, I do not mind saying it has been a great privilege to represent that community now for 20 years, both as a local councillor and a member of this place. When the chips are down, it is the people of West Heidelberg that you can always count on. They know the value of a government that represents them, supports the education maintenance allowance, supports the school saving bonus, supports the Austin Hospital and provides 50 million education school breakfast program benefits for our local community.

I also want to add, if I can, that in my electorate of Ivanhoe, with the work that we do with the school breakfast program, mum taught at local schools in my electorate – yes, she did – at Ivanhoe Primary School in my electorate. That is another school that has benefited from significant capital investments, both the Beehive, which has been built by our government, and the treehouse classrooms built by our government at Ivanhoe Primary School. These are further investments in the local electorate of Ivanhoe, who were beneficiaries of the school breakfast program, the Ivanhoe Primary School where mum taught for many years.

It is a polling booth there at Ivanhoe Primary School. I must say I did get a bit worried at the last election when the Liberal Party volunteers left the booth early at Ivanhoe Primary School. I got a bit worried that they had just folded the tent, decided it was all over and that they had nailed it, and I was in a lot of trouble. The Labor Party was in trouble in Ivanhoe. Then I realised that the Greens had almost come second at the Ivanhoe polling booth at the primary school. The Greens were still there counting. The Liberal Party had gone home early. I am tipping that at the next election at the Ivanhoe Primary School it will be the Greens that will be coming a very close second out there in the southern end of the Ivanhoe electorate.

What it comes back to is that Ivanhoe Primary School is a beneficiary of the school breakfast program. It is a school that has also benefited from my mother teaching there for over a decade. It was very handy at the polling booth on election day to have your mum there. She does a great job. Not only Ivanhoe Primary School, but I am a product of the Viewbank College, the old Rosanna East High School – in my own electorate. There are many, I am sure, in this place who not only grew up in their electorates but went to school in their electorates and had parents teach at schools in their electorate. This is the benefit of being a local product of your electorate: to be able to go to those schools and then return and deliver a $11.5 million performing arts centre at a school that you went to. When you think it looks exactly the same as it did when you left, when you then had the opportunity to represent them some 20 years later in this place, when the school programs like the breakfast program come to pass in this electorate and when you are first elected to this place, it had been some 20 years since I had been to the school – to be able to deliver a performing arts centre for $11.5 million at Viewbank College, as it is known today. It is about giving back to the places that gave us opportunities to make a contribution in our community.

As we work our way around the Ivanhoe electorate, I was recently at the Heidelberg Primary School. You would all have to work very hard to get a $16 million commitment to a local primary school in your electorate, and I am very pleased to say that the shovels are being turned and the work is happening at Heidelberg Primary School – a $16 million redevelopment at Heidelberg Primary School ‍– a beneficiary not only of the breakfast program but also the Smile Squad program and other cost-of-living initiatives to support communities like mine in the Ivanhoe electorate.

Heidelberg of course is the beating heart of the Ivanhoe electorate. My electorate office is there, as are two hospitals on one site: the new Austin and Mercy hospitals built by the Bracks Labor government. I remember heading out there with my former employer, the member for Melbourne at the time and Minister for Health the Honourable Bronwyn Pike, and we were out there with the community. There was a sausage sizzle welcoming the community to the new Austin Hospital and the Mercy Hospital – two hospitals on one site. And there was a member in the other place at the time – I think it might have been East Yarra Province – Mr Davis at the sausage sizzle. He was the Shadow Minister for Health – a very hardworking Shadow Minister for Health, I would have to say. He was there to celebrate the opening of the Austin and Mercy hospitals, two new hospitals on one site. I make mention of that because of course this is the location where we are spending $16 million at Heidelberg Primary School, a very significant redevelopment where the school breakfast program operates for some 600-plus students in my electorate, a critical program. I am really pleased that they are the beneficiaries of the Smile Squad, of the education school breakfast program and of education in terms of the school saving bonus. The are many beneficiaries at Heidelberg Primary, and they are going to benefit from a $16 million redevelopment thanks to the Allan Labor government.

Of course then you move across to Viewbank Primary School, and I was there just recently for new school captains. My brother went to school at Viewbank Primary School a long time ago, another school that benefits from the breakfast program under our government and a school that has some 650 students and does an amazing job. We have also spent a significant amount of money there – $8 million on a modform redevelopment at Viewbank Primary School. We have seen the classroom redevelopment. I had the Deputy Premier out to open that just recently, and we also did some further work through COVID when we craned in the prefabricated modform classroom buildings; it was a fantastic effort. We have seen something like, I would say, about $12 million of redevelopment at Viewbank Primary School, and that has been a very significant redevelopment. It is a school that of course continues to benefit from the school breakfast program in my electorate and a school that also provides an opportunity for education through the Watsonia army barracks in my electorate to many defence force personnel who send their kids to Viewbank Primary School.

Not far from there of course is Banyule Primary School. Banyule Primary School is another polling booth in my electorate that has had very significant support for not only our government but for other parties in this place. We have seen at the moment a $5 million new school hall redevelopment there; that has concluded. We are actually going out there very soon to open a $12 million redevelopment at Banyule Primary School.

I know my colleagues are probably a little bit envious of the work that we have been able to conclude in the Ivanhoe electorate. There is not a school that you can go to that has not had significant investment from our government – primary schools that are also significantly supported by the cost-of-living benefits of the Smile Squad, of the school breakfast program and of the school saving bonus in the electorate of Ivanhoe. That is why I am keen to get the Premier out there or perhaps the education minister to open what is a $12 million redevelopment of the administration and classroom wings at Banyule Primary School. It is a very significant school in my electorate – again, over 600 students. There are not many schools that have less than 600 students in relation to primary schools in my electorate. We bounce across –

Sam Groth: I am enjoying the contribution from the member for Ivanhoe, and I think there would be more people who would also enjoy this contribution, so I draw your attention to the state of the house.

Quorum formed.

Anthony CARBINES: Of course it would be remiss of me not to mention Rosanna Golf Links Primary School. Our daughter Ava, who was not born when I first entered this place some years ago, has now moved on to high school, but she concluded her schooling at Rosanna Golf Links Primary School, where the school breakfast program plays a key role. The Rosanna Golf Links Primary School is also the regional deaf facility in my electorate, and so students there also learn sign language, learn Auslan, and do a fantastic job. In fact we were at an Anzac service the other year with Ava, my daughter, and the anthem was happening – we were at the West Heidelberg RSL – and she was signing and she said, ‘Well, why doesn’t everyone sign the anthem?’, because she assumed that this is what everybody does. It just says a lot, I think, about what happens at Rosanna Golf Links Primary School, who are beneficiaries of that school breakfast program, beneficiaries of the school saving bonus, beneficiaries of the Smile Squad work – cost-of-living benefits that our government is providing to communities right across the state – and beneficiaries of a significant redevelopment that was opened by the former Deputy Premier of Victoria, the former honourable member for Monbulk James Merlino. But also you would remember of course the professor who was the designer of the cochlear implant. He also played a role in opening the Rosanna Golf Links Primary School. That was also a key milestone at Rosanna Golf Links Primary School, and it goes again not only to the investments in the bricks and mortar at our schools in the Ivanhoe electorate but to the cost-of-living pressures around Smile Squad, school saving bonus and school breakfast program that make a big difference to families across my electorate.

Just a drop punt from there is the St Martin of Tours Primary School, which comes under the program provided by our government for Catholic schools around capital works. Again, I had the honourable member for Monbulk prior to the current amazing member for Monbulk come out to open a very significant redevelopment there at St Martin of Tours. The work that they do and the work that we do together is not only on capital works but to make sure that we provide savings for those families who work so hard to send their kids to get a great education.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Ivanhoe East Primary School and the work that we have done there collaborating not only on providing the school breakfast program but to ensure that when the Mother of God Primary School closed we were able to secure the facility just next door for the state education department so that we could expand the offering from Ivanhoe East Primary School, a state school that was growing. We needed additional land and additional buildings, and we were able to reach an agreement for a long-term lease from Catholic education in Melbourne so that they could expand Ivanhoe East Primary School into what was the old Mother of God, or MOG, site there in East Ivanhoe. This is about making sensible decisions that support local communities – that support them around the school saving bonus, support them around the Smile Squad services and support them around the work that we are able to do with the school breakfast program.

I did note that also, since the member for Kew is here in the chamber, it would be remiss of me not to mention the work that we have done together – and her predecessor in fact; it would be remiss of me to give too much credit and to ignore the former member for Kew – to provide a multimillion-dollar redevelopment at Kew High School.

Kew High School is not a beneficiary of the school breakfast program, which is particularly focused at our primary schools. But so many of the parents of children in Ivanhoe and Ivanhoe East primary schools, who are beneficiaries of the school breakfast program, send their children to Kew High School across the river. When I went there to do the opening, a multimillion-dollar opening, people thought it was brave to advocate to secure multimillion dollars of funding for a high school that is not in your electorate. But we understand the key relationships between the people in Kew and the people in East Ivanhoe and that our families seek to get a good education and attend Kew High. I met the school captains at the time, who are previous students at Ivanhoe East and Ivanhoe primary schools, because a very significant number of students from my electorate attended that school. It was great to be able to work in a collaborative fashion with the previous and the current members for Kew on the redevelopment of Kew High, with the benefits that that has provided to students, who are also able to be great learners at school. At Ivanhoe East and Ivanhoe primary schools they did have access to the school breakfast program and they were able to focus on their education. An army marches on its stomach, and if you cannot concentrate and if you are thinking about what you are going to get to eat and where your next meal is coming from and not on what your teacher is teaching you and the work that is being committed for you to focus on, well, you cannot succeed, and our government understands that.

I want to just cut back across the border, back into the safe havens of the Ivanhoe electorate, to Macleod. Macleod College of course saw another $5 million investment in the science rooms that were opened. He was pretty busy, that former member for Monbulk the Honourable James Merlino, at the time. That is actually a P–12 school and has a Macleod primary school attached to it, right next door to the new $5 million science wing, which we were able to open under our government. Again, that is just about providing opportunities in the Macleod community, to expand their offerings around access to the school breakfast program and then to be able to kick on to the secondary school in brand new science facilities.

I feel that I have taken us on a bit of a journey across the Ivanhoe electorate, and it really has been a demonstration of what we have been able to achieve over the past decade after the four very mean and nasty lean years as the member for Ivanhoe in opposition, and it did take some time to work towards the commitments that we needed to make to turn things around. I do not mind saying as well that perhaps we could have done more when we had our opportunities in government previously to provide investments, support and services to schools in my electorate. But we did not waste any time, and we got that opportunity again when we were the first government to be elected after only four years in opposition in over half a century. That does not just happen. To make history, you have to work hard. To make history, you have to make commitments that the community want to back and want to support. We were very fortunate to have the leadership from our party of someone who understood communities and understood what it was to make commitments that people understood and wanted to see delivered.

More recently I was at Olympic Village Primary School, a brand new school in my electorate that had not had any work done on it really since it was built for the 1956 Olympic Games, where the Olympic Village was built for our community. To come back to that location, knock it over, build a new school for that community just opposite the brand new Banyule Community Health service, which was opened by former Premier Steve Bracks, it was a further indication of the work and commitment that our government has delivered to the 3081 postcode, an area that I lived in for seven years – in West Heidelberg, in Olympic Village, in Goodenough Court just off Liberty Parade – a community that I was able to represent on Banyule City Council and then in this place. They hold you accountable.

We will be there at the iftar dinner in the mall in West Heidelberg on Friday night. I will be joined there with Kate Thwaites, our federal member of Parliament. We will be tucking into a meal there at some point at the iftar dinner. What I am also reminded of is the meals that we are able to provide to students in the school breakfast program, and I think it is important. What happens with a bite to eat is it is about people coming together. As the member for Hastings well knows – and I await with anticipation the menu and the recipe book that he has been working on – food in the school breakfast program is about the preparation and it is about bringing people together.

The saying ‘breaking bread’ is really one about breaking down barriers and bringing people together, as tough as things might be. And iftar dinners I think are another opportunity that we will see in West Heidelberg on Friday night in the mall that is about bringing people together and understanding that the preparation of the meal, the respect for that, opening their doors and bringing people together is a great equaliser. Sharing, as the member for Hastings knows, is what is all about. I think that is what we are trying to do here with the school breakfast program: provide opportunities for people to come together, take some time out and do something that they are all doing together. It is not something that you are excluded from. It is not something that someone else does and you miss out on; it is about sharing those opportunities together. We will do that on Friday night, and we will give some contemplation and some thought to those in many parts of the world who are missing out on this opportunity, reflect on what it is o spend time together and to break bread together and also I think reflect on the opportunities that our government gave with our 50 millionth meal last year in the same postcode. Fifty million times we have provided opportunities for people to line their stomachs, to sit down and take some time out from what is difficult when they are missing out and to understand what it is like to be included and understand what is like to be part of something and not feel shame about that but feel good about it. I think that these are the things that we understand. I do not think it is just this side. I think the Parliament understands the value of providing these opportunities.

As we come to concluding on these matters and allowing an opportunity for others to speak to them –

Sam Groth: I draw your attention to the state of the house, Acting Speaker Mullahy.

Quorum formed.

Anthony CARBINES: Waratah Special Development School – I do not think I have had the chance to tell you about that. I want to thank the member for Mordialloc, who has done a lot of work around special development schools and securing funding across the state for special development schools. The northern suburbs actually benefit from the Waratah Special Development School with regard to breakfast programs and the work that is provided there. We have actually got a very significant multimillion-dollar redevelopment to open at Waratah. Maybe the member for Mordi might be interested in coming and giving me a hand with that. Stay away from the trampoline. We did attend and I gave that a bit of a tryout a couple of years ago, and my trampoline skills were put to the test. Fortunately, other than the member for Mordialloc and me, nobody else saw the not quite triple pike somersault that did not quite come off. But the Waratah Special Development School provides great services for the people of the northern suburbs.

Sometimes we get parochial about our electorates, and I know it is not necessarily somewhere that is attended by local people in my community, but it says a lot for the Ivanhoe community that they extend the hand of friendship to others and provide these services in the community down there in Bellfield and West Heidelberg. At the Waratah Special Development School they have got an expansion. We will open that. It is ready to go. It is a fantastic service, and it provides opportunities to people from the great, mighty northern suburbs to have the education experience that they need but also in a way that provides this broader range of services that we have seen and that I have touched on right across the electorate.

I have not gone to St John’s in Heidelberg, to St Pius there in West Heidelberg, to Mary Immaculate in Ivanhoe and many of the other great schools in the Ivanhoe electorate that do significant work. I was even just across the border there at La Trobe University with the fantastic chancellor there, the Honourable John Brumby, just last week with many of my colleagues.

From start to finish, education in the Ivanhoe electorate and just beyond the borders has been very significant. We rebuilt Fairy Hills preschool just on King Street off Lower Heidelberg Road. It is ready to open, providing some hundred-plus placements for people in my electorate so that when they head off to Ivanhoe Primary School or Ivanhoe East Primary School or other schools in my electorate they too have access to the school breakfast program, because our government is going to continue to fund the school breakfast program.

I was very fortunate to have the Deputy Premier and the Premier at the 50 millionth meal serving at Olympic Village Primary School, a $6 million rebuilt, brand new school in the Ivanhoe electorate. It just goes to show that it might be a community that has been around for centuries, but you can still build brand new schools in electorates that are not out in the virgin fields of the outer burbs. Sometimes these renewal projects need to happen much closer to home.

It is not just about bricks and mortar about the services that are provided by our teachers and support staff. It is about making sure that they are supported in the classroom by being able to give their attention to the next generation of people who are going to represent us in this place, because they get to start their day with a meal that is provided by amazing parents who volunteer in our schools to prepare those meals. The thing that you cannot put past it is not just the cost and the budget expense of taxpayer funds that we commit but the love with which it is created and the outcomes that are delivered. And I commend the – (Time expired)

The ACTING SPEAKER (John Mullahy): It is like I have taken a tour of Ivanhoe.

Jess WILSON (Kew) (21:31): That was a tour of Ivanhoe. Thank you to the Minister for Police.

A member interjected.

Jess WILSON: I will give you a tour of Kew.

The ACTING SPEAKER (John Mullahy): Through the Chair.

Jess WILSON: We started with Kew High School, so we have a good start there. I have to say my mum just texted me in fact, and for some bizarre reason she tuned in to the house and she did say, ‘This man just keeps repeating himself.’ You had one spectator, but congratulations on making it for 30 minutes. But really, I think the question is: where is Ben? Where is the Minister for Education?

The ACTING SPEAKER (John Mullahy): Correct titles, please.

Jess WILSON: Where is the Minister for Education, the member for Niddrie, tonight talking about the Education State? He has thrown his colleague, his friend, in here to speak for 30 minutes on this motion, and where is he? I am sure he is here like all of us, so we are looking forward to him coming in and speaking to the Education State.

If we look at the data when it comes to Victoria, only a few weeks ago there was data that demonstrated that Victoria has the least government funding when it comes to government schools than any other state and territory in Australia – $16,000 per student compared to $18,000 for the national average. It is all very well and good to speak about access to certain programs that some students in the state have, but if you do not fully fund our government schools here in Victoria, then students do not have access to the best educational opportunities. How do we know that? Because our educational outcomes are in decline. Year after year our NAPLAN results, our international results in this state, demonstrate that our students are not getting the education they deserve. If you look at our NAPLAN results from last year, 30 per cent, one in three Victorian students, are not meeting numeracy or literacy standards in this state. One in three in the state of Victoria are not meeting proficiency standards when it comes to maths or English. That is an absolute blight on this government. The fact that this government cannot fully fund our schools means that our students cannot access the education that they deserve.

While our schools here in Victoria have the lowest government funding of any state or territory in this country, we also see that our parents, our families, are forced in this state to pay the second highest fees and charges when it comes to sending their children to government schools – the second highest ‍– and it is the highest when it comes to primary schools. The highest voluntary contributions, fees and charges for families to send their children to schools are in Victoria. That is because this government are not fully funding schools in this state. They are in fact the least funded when it comes to any state or territory in this country. This government and this minister had to go cap in hand to the federal government to help them out – cap in hand to the federal Labor government to say, ‘We can’t afford to fully fund our schools in this state. We have managed the books so poorly in this state that we cannot fully fund our schools.’ That is why. The data does not lie. On average a student in Victoria receives $16,900 compared to the national average of $18,500. That is the difference between the national average and what a student here in Victoria receives – the lowest of any state or territory. So the minister went to Canberra and said, ‘Can you help me? Can you help me out? We cannot afford it here in Victoria.’ We cannot afford it because we have had $50 billion worth of cost blowouts on major projects – $50 billion as a result of corruption on major projects, corruption when it comes to funnelling money to the CFMEU, to bikies, to organised crime. That is the result of making decisions in this state that help out your mates in the union movement instead of putting money into essential services.

Members interjecting.

Jess WILSON: ‘Teachers,’ say those opposite. Our teachers in this state are the lowest paid in Australia. So when we have a situation where our government schools have the lowest funding of any state or territory, according to the Productivity Commission – not according to me, not according to us, according to the Productivity Commission – and you have the lowest paid teachers in this state, is it any wonder that we have a teacher exodus, that we have teachers leaving the profession in droves? How many vacancies are there in Victoria today when it comes to teachers? One thousand teacher vacancies across the state. If you are not able to fill teachers in classrooms, what does that mean? Consequences for students. It means that they are not getting the best education. And where is that borne out? In our results, with one in three Victorian students not being proficient when it comes to numeracy and literacy in this state.

We have heard time and time again this government talk about the Education State, but on every metric we are in reverse, whether it is the teacher shortage crisis or whether it is the fact we have the least funding when it comes to government schools or when it comes to what this government has done in terms of creating division in this state – school choice. We have seen this government put a tax on independent and Catholic schools. I note the member for Ivanhoe, as he gave us a tour of his electorate and went school by school, did not mention a number of schools in his electorate that really are feeling the pinch. We did not hear about Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar, which I visited very recently, and we did not hear about Ivanhoe Grammar, which are subject to this government’s tax on schools – their schools tax. There is a cost-of-living crisis, and this government is adding thousands of dollars to school fees in this state. School fees in this state are being put up as a direct result of this government’s mismanagement. They have decided to tax education. So they come in here and they talk about the programs that they have had to put in place because they have had to make cuts in every other aspect of government services.

In a horror budget last year they had to come to the table at the 11th hour and say, ‘What is something to distract from everything else that we’re cutting from? What is something to distract from the fact that we don’t fully fund our schools, that we have the lowest paid teachers in this state? Let’s talk about a school saving bonus’ – a school saving bonus that this government is not even paying its bills for.

It is a school saving bonus where small businesses are meeting their obligations, providing uniforms, providing whatever it may be, and this government is failing to pay those invoices. It is tens of thousands of dollars the Department of Education is not paying, because this government cannot afford to pay its bills. In fact it took the Premier to step in and say ‘That’s unacceptable’ and to tell the Minister for Education, her Deputy Premier, to make sure he is actually paying his bills on time. Because when small businesses in this state are doing it incredibly tough, in the worst place in Australia to do business, this government cannot even pay its bills on time.

We heard from the member for Ivanhoe about the incredible capital investment he has seen in various schools in his electorate. Well, it is lucky that the member for Ivanhoe has seen some funds flow into his electorate because for many of us we have not seen that. I visited with the member for Nepean Red Hill Primary and Dromana Secondary College. These are schools that are in desperate need of upgrades.

Tim Richardson: What about Eastbourne?

Jess WILSON: Eastbourne Primary – in fact we were speaking about it today, a school that has been waiting for desperately needed upgrades and is still waiting. Kew High has asbestos in its roof that this government is refusing to remove despite relentless requests by the school, by me to the minister, by the member for Ivanhoe to say this school has raised $1.2 million through its own fundraising to upgrade its classrooms, and this government is not coming to the table for the $60,000 it will take to remove the asbestos that is in those classrooms, preventing the school with its own fundraising to do what it needs to upgrades those facilities – a school that has its roof collapsing.

We want to do a tour. Canterbury Girls Secondary College had a wall fall down while students were at school – bricks crumbling, thousands of students on site – and nothing has been invested in that school. Kew East Primary for decades has seen no capital funding into that school – again, classrooms full of asbestos. Balwyn Primary School has doubled in size since 2011 and does not have enough toilet facilities, yet this government refuses time and time again to actually invest in upgrades.

They talk about governing for everyone, they talk about governing for the whole state, but it is governing for their own electorates – and that is it. That is why in last year’s budget we saw 29 school upgrades unfunded. On the eve of the last election this government made commitments to upgrade 89 schools and to deliver those upgrades by the next election. Well, with 18 months to go and 29 still unfunded and another 25 not even at the tender stage, I think there is not much hope that they will be delivered before the next election.

This government talks a big game when it comes to cost of living, but if you look on any metric this state is in decline and Victorians are feeling the pinch. It is a cost-of-living crisis. We went from 1999 to be in terms of our real gross state product per capita 1.7 per cent above the national average. We have fallen 11.5 per cent below the national average. Victorian household income has fallen below the national average and every state and territory except South Australia. So to come in here and claim that they are delivering for Victorians in terms of cost of living is an insult to every single Victorian. Why? Because of the inflationary impact of this government – the cost blowouts on the Big Build projects, $50 billion in cost blowouts, that make it basically unaffordable to buy a home in this state or to find a tradie in this state. They are pushing up the prices at every opportunity. Why? Because they are funnelling it to the CFMEU, their union mates and to organised crime. That is what those opposite are complicit in every single day – funnelling it to organised crime on the taxpayer dime.

To come in here and to claim that cost-of-living relief is what they are delivering for Victorians is a complete and utter insult. We see it every single day, whether it is the cost of energy in this state – small businesses and businesses that cannot continue to operate – or whether it is the taxes. Today another tax has hit Victorians, which is going to make it harder for Victorians to make ends meet. Just think about the taxes that are hitting our businesses: the increase in payroll tax and the increase in WorkCover premiums under this government. I do not know what the member for Nepean hears, but I am yet to hear a business that has only suffered a 43 per cent increase when it comes to WorkCover premiums. Cost of living is real, and it is because the Allan Labor government cannot manage money that every Victorian is feeling the pinch. Every single Victorian is feeling the pinch because this government has no respect for taxpayers money. They think it is a magic money tree – Magic Pudding economics, according to this government. It cannot continue, because Victorians cannot continue to be hit with these taxes. They cannot continue to pick up the bill because of this government.

Housing in this state is unaffordable. We come in here nearly every week, and there is another piece of legislation when it comes to housing, yet we have not seen any impact when it comes to increasing the supply of housing in this state. We have not seen housing affordability become something that Victorians can dream of again; in fact it is going in the opposite direction. On the day that the government announced their housing statement they also announced a raft of new property taxes. How can you put it out there that you are going to build 80,000 new homes a year but at the same time say you are going to introduce new taxes on the property sector? How on earth are those houses going to be delivered? We know the answer: they are not going to be delivered, because this government has walked away from that target every day since.

We hear time and time again from this government that cost of living and the Education State are absolutely their focus. If you are a Victorian family sending your child to a school you would be thinking anything but. We see crumbling facilities every single day. We see toxic mould in classrooms. We see walls falling down. We hear regularly – I am sure the member for Nepean hears regularly – that their classrooms are not air-conditioned. In fact when we went to Red Hill primary they were not heated. This government only looks after its pet projects and funnels money into political projects in its electorates. It is not governing for all Victorians, and Victorians continue to pay the price.

If we want to talk about incredible waste under this government when it comes to the Education State, we saw this government introduce the tutor learning initiative, a $1.2 billion program. Why? Because they had to try and reverse the incredible impacts of the COVID school lockdowns, something that we are going to continue to see the tail of for many, many years to come. The Auditor-General looked into the tutor learning initiative, the $1.2 billion program of taxpayers money, and what did they find? They found the initiative did not significantly improve students’ learning compared to similar non-tutored students. In fact the Auditor-General found:

… that students who received tutoring learnt less than those who did not receive tutoring.

So the $1.2 billion program that this government put in place saw students who actually used the program and used the tutoring learn less than those students who did not access the program. You cannot make this up. Whether it comes to upgrading facilities, leaving these projects unfunded and not delivering a fair share right across the state of Victoria; whether it is our teacher shortage crisis because they are the lowest paid teachers in the country; or whether it is the fact that this government underfunds our schools so that we see that Victorian government schools have the least funding of any state or territory, this government is not delivering for students.

Let me just finish on another big claim from this government. This government talks a big game when it comes to early childhood and education, their free kinder program. This program is going to see supposedly 50 early childhood centres open across Victoria. They were going to be delivered by 2026, by 2027, by 2028. What happened in the last budget? They were kicked out to the 2030s because this government cannot afford them. These childcare centres are desperately needed in childcare deserts in regional Victoria in particular and in Victoria’s growth suburbs, yet this government has kicked the can down the road once again.

It is okay to focus on making sure we give another billion here or there on a blowout on a major project, but when it comes to delivering what Victorians actually need, when it comes to making sure that Victorians have access to child care, when it comes to making sure that we can see more women getting back into the workforce, this government decides, ‘No, let’s prioritise giving another billion dollars to the West Gate Tunnel.’ That is the reality of this government.

When it comes to the free kinder program, it is another program that sounds terrific on TV and sounds terrific in an ad. But when it comes to actually putting it in place and delivering it for Victorians, what do we find? They have not actually put any resources behind it. There is no funding to follow. What does that mean? Many, many, many kindergartens, particularly sessional kindergartens run by local councils, cannot afford to deliver the program. I hear from local councils every single day – indeed from the member for Nepean’s electorate – that cannot afford to be in the kinder space anymore, and they are thinking about actually exiting. What does that mean? What does it mean for those families that then cannot access places because this government is more focused on a political slogan on the eve of an election than actually delivering real policy that is going to deliver for Victorians.

Whatever measure you look at, this government is failing Victorians when it comes to delivering what they need in terms of cost-of-living relief. To come in here tonight and say that Victorians are doing so well under this government and so well under the Minister for Education’s watch, who is clearly more distracted by making phone calls to his colleagues about whether or not he has got their support to take over from the Premier – whether he is more focused on that than actually delivering in his portfolio –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING SPEAKER (John Mullahy): Order!

Jess WILSON: Whether he is more focused on speaking to his colleagues than actually delivering for Victorians, the Minister for Education needs –

Steve Dimopoulos: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I have a lot of time for the member for Kew, but she is actually impugning a member, and that is the Deputy Premier. He is absolutely committed to his job as the Minister for Education. Frankly, I would not be throwing stones from a glass house.

The ACTING SPEAKER (John Mullahy): There is no point of order.

Jess WILSON: I am pleased to see that the Minister for Environment has put his support behind the Deputy Premier – good to see.

The Minister for Education needs to focus on doing his job. Let us just remember one recent example of where the Minister for Education had taken his eye off the prize. He claims that he learned about the fact that this government is going to put high-risk youth offenders in mainstream classrooms from the Herald Sun. That is how across the brief the Minister for Education is. His department is briefing principals and teachers about the fact that this program is going to roll out in a matter of weeks, yet how does the Minister for Education find out about it? In the Herald Sun on Saturday morning. That is how across his brief he is. So when it comes to delivering the Education State, when it comes to making sure that students have access to the best possible schooling that they deserve, this government is letting them down – the lowest funded schools in the country, the lowest paid teachers in the country, one in three Victorian students that are not meeting the proficiency standards when it comes to literacy and numeracy. We are seeing parents being forced to pay more to send their students to school. We know from recent data that Victorian families pay the second highest in the nation when it comes to sending their children to a government school, the highest when it comes to primary schools.

We on this side of the house are focused on how to deliver real cost-of-living relief and how to make sure that we deliver essential services that actually deliver for Victorians. This government cannot manage money, and Victorian students are paying the price.

Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (21:57): It gives me great pleasure this evening to stand up and contribute on this motion because it gives me the opportunity to update the house on how the Allan Labor government is supporting working families in Tarneit and Hoppers Crossing, whether that be through the $400 school saving bonus, whether that be through our breakfast clubs, which every single school in my electorate takes the opportunity to use, or whether that indeed be through the capital works upgrades or the new schools that we have built in my electorate. We know that world-class infrastructure makes a difference in the educational lives of Victorians.

It is also fantastic for me to follow the contribution of the Member for Kew, the shadow minister for private schools. To be quite honest, it was fantastic to listen to the member for Kew, for the first time that I had ever heard, actually touching on the lives of government school kids. It was refreshing and it was great to hear. It did not take long for her to come back to basically her 1 wood and start talking about the plight of these private schools in her electorate, one of which she went to, that charge kids $30,000 to $35,000 a year.

Sam Groth: Speaker, the Hawks are up by 16, and that is more than the number of people in this chamber. I draw your attention to the state of the house.

Quorum formed.

Colin Brooks: On a point of order, Speaker, I draw your attention to previous rulings around the establishment of quorum. There are a number of rulings, and I will cite probably the most relevant one, by Acting Speaker Morris:

Exercising discretion not to ring the bells. Where a quorum had been called and a number of other quorums had already been called that day, the Chair exercised discretion in accordance with previous rulings not to ring the bells.

I would ask you, if further quorums are rung, the precinct has a quorum and the bells should not be rung.

The SPEAKER: I will take that into consideration, as will the Acting Speakers.

Dylan WIGHT: It is a sad day for the opposition when you have got the member for Nepean running the house – or running their side of the house. I did not know he could count to 21.

I will continue. It was refreshing to hear the member for Kew speak about government schools for legitimately the first time that I have ever heard. She stood there and she did well to get to 30 minutes, and I respect it. She stood there and she chastised the Minister for Education for going to the federal government to get an extra $2.5 billion for Victorian schools, like it was a bad thing. It was absolutely bizarre. I make the point to the shadow minister for private schools that the only reason that we had to do that is because we had 10 years of a Liberal government that gave our government schools nothing ‍– absolutely nothing. So the Minister for Education went and, incredibly successfully and fantastically, got an extra $2.5 billion for public schools right here in Victoria. I will also make the point to the member for Kew that for three to four years, maybe three years of that time of a Liberal federal government that gave Victorian public schools nothing, it was her mentor Josh Frydenberg that was the Treasurer. So if she was so concerned about federal funding into public schools in Victoria at the time, she should have spoken to her mate Josh.

As I said at the outset, it is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for me to update the house on how the Allan Labor government is supporting kids – schoolkids, public schoolkids – and also families in my electorate of Tarneit. The $400 school saving bonus is an absolutely fantastic initiative that has come out of this Allan Labor government. I am a dad myself; I have got two kids in primary school, so I have had the pleasure of going to school uniform shops and watching families pimp their kids out in brand new school uniforms. I have had the opportunity to talk to principals and to schools in my electorate about how much this means. Recently I visited The Grange, a fantastic P–12 school. I visited their secondary campus in Hoppers Crossing, and I actually visited them to talk about the YMCA Youth Parliament program. They wanted to bring me in to have a conversation with me, because The Grange is taking part in that program. As part of that conversation, I got to speak to a year 10 student, a young woman, who is taking part in this program, and I cannot wait to chair this when I do it, because she is absolute dynamite, a weapon, and they were all absolutely fantastic. I spoke to her, and she is one of seven children in her family. All seven are in school, in primary school and secondary college, at The Grange – all seven. She does not come from a family of means, so that $400 school saving bonus has meant that all seven kids have a brand new school uniform, they get to go to excursions and they have books. They get to participate in school, like families from electorates like Kew have been able to do for some time. It means that families like that in Hoppers Crossing can participate in school as others have been able to previously. It is one of the most fantastic initiatives that I have seen in the education space for some time.

Then we go to the school breakfast program. I have spoken about the school breakfast program in this chamber previously. Every single school in my electorate has a school breakfast club – apart from one, but that is a brand new school. The only reason they have not got one yet is because they do not have the student population yet, but they will take part in it next year. Why that is so important is not just because of convenience for parents, it is because a lot of those children in those schools without that program would go to school without breakfast. They would flat out just go to school without breakfast, and that was what was happening previously. That is why it is so important. It started in my electorate with generous people in my electorate just starting the breakfast clubs anyway, and then it rolled on from there.

What people need to know and what needs to be clear is that that is what is at stake in the 2026 election. If anyone thinks for a minute that those opposite – certainly not the member for Nepean, because he never would – will continue to have breakfast clubs in schools, will continue to have the school saving bonus and will even continue to have free kinder, they are kidding themselves. Those opposite have already said – Trump- and Dutton-like – that they will cut the public service, that they will cut and cut and cut. These are the programs that they will cut. That is what is in jeopardy at the 2026 election. The Liberal Party, as they always have, will make life harder for working families in Victoria because it is the only thing they know how to do. They will cut the breakfast club program, they will cut the school saving bonus and they will not build a brand new school ever in Tarneit, because they never have.

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (22:07): It is a little bit mystifying. I wonder if the member for Kew actually lives in another state. The way she trashes Victorian school students and their performance et cetera is pretty galling. I think it is important that we actually put the correct outcomes on the record, because it certainly is an indictment coming from her mouth of Victorian schools and teachers and the like. It is pretty insulting, to say the least. I am happy to correct the record on many fronts. I will say also that we are on track to have 100 new schools built by 2026. How many schools did they build when they were in? How many was it? Zero. If you are looking at comparing the record – zero versus 100 – on any mathematical spectrum we can see that we are actually doing great things collectively with the Victorian community and are certainly delivering.

I have had the pleasure of seeing and being at the opening of a number of these fantastic schools, even in my own electorate. We have got South Melbourne Park Primary School. We have got South Melbourne Primary School. I know Albert Park College preceded me when that was upgraded. It is an absolutely outstanding school in our electorate. It is absolutely fantastic, the calibre of education we have got. Port Melbourne Secondary College was also built by our government. We know that Middle Park Primary School are at the design phase. They are going to have fantastic upgrades at their school. I know Albert Park Primary School had a church on their site, and that has been rebuilt into a beautiful performance space. I have actually been there. It is absolutely fantastic. I have been to many of the wonderful performances at that school.

A member interjected.

Nina TAYLOR: No, no performance from me, just a little bit of congratulation, the Premiers’ Reading Challenge – that kind of thing. It has been absolutely fantastic to see the beautiful singing and dancing and other things that the kids do at that school.

It is a little bit galling. She was talking about the NAPLAN results. I just want to again correct the record. We can see if we go back to 14 August 2024:

Victorian students have again achieved outstanding NAPLAN results – leading the nation and recording improvements across a range of metrics.

This is in stark contrast to what the member for Kew was asserting. The 2024 national data shows Victorian students are leading the nation in a range of metrics, particularly in the primary years. Victorian year 3 students continue to lead the nation in both reading and numeracy, the most important foundational skills. This is the third consecutive year this has been achieved. Who knew? If we had listened to the member for Kew, we would have thought they were absolutely tanking, but that is not what the results show. Victorian primary school students continue to produce the best results in the country, ranking first or second in eight out of 10 domains, more than any other state or territory. Victorian students in years 3, 7 and 9 improved their 2023 reading results, reversing the national trend, which saw the average score for reading decline in years 3, 5 and 7 and improve only in year 9. Victoria’s reading performance improved overall in 2024, with 5000 more students reaching the ‘exceeding proficiency’ level for reading across all year levels compared to 2023.

This year, Victoria’s NAPLAN participation rate was the highest – and I should just say that was 2024, just to be clear about that reference – it has been since the first year of testing in 2008. More than 95 per cent of students in years 3, 5 and 7 sat the reading test and more than 91 per cent sat the year 9 reading test. In total 311,000 Victorian students participated across years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in 2024. Despite Victoria’s strong results, there is always room for improvement, absolutely – hence the introduction of the mandatory use of phonics in primary school from 2025. Here we are now, and we know we are actually accelerating that. We are even accelerating this.

I do not know if you all got to see – I am pretty proud – that South Melbourne Primary School actually hit the news because they are performing so well in phonics. They are really ahead of time. You have to brag. When you see these students and the teachers, Noel Creece, the principal, should be so very proud of what is going on at that school. It is absolutely transformative. But of course we are rolling this out across the state, working together with the teachers to deliver the best possible literacy outcomes because that is really an equaliser, isn’t it? I actually think I referred to this earlier in the day. Making sure that, irrespective of what challenges individual students may have with disadvantage or otherwise, the school is actually making sure that every student gets the same opportunity to achieve their best. I am really excited about it. I have seen a lot of it live and I have seen just the difference it makes for these students, and I have had parents reflect back to me that they can see the difference as well. That is really satisfying, because at the end of the day they want their kids to get equitable opportunities.

I did want to talk about a theme that is certainly part of the motion that we are speaking to today, and that is the free healthy breakfast program. I know myself that I cannot even function without breakfast. I do not mean to make too much laughter and light of that, but seriously I cannot focus and by mid-morning nothing is going to happen. So I can only imagine there are kids who, but for this investment by our government, would be quite significantly compromised in their capacity to learn and engage. Also, I have to say there must be a feeling of isolation, because if you are not able to do what other kids are able to do, your peers, then it is only natural that you are going to feel a sense of being the other. We are working exactly against that because we want to make sure that every child feels included and is included, so it is not just also about feeling, it is about actualisation. I know another thing the Minister for Police was commenting on was that the free breakfast programs enable everyone to connect and eat together, and that is also a very important mechanism – a sense of unity, a sense of inclusion and a sense of an equal pathway in life, not being compromised because of whatever disadvantage or other challenges you may be facing in your life.

I should also say that public schools are free, and they will stay that way. No child can be disadvantaged or refused instruction regardless of payment. Our focus is making sure that all Victorian students can get a great education at a great school backed by full and fair funding, so we will not let any child miss out on the things that make the Victorian education great. We are giving families the flexibility to use their $400 school saving bonus on the things they need, from sports to camps, excursions, textbooks and uniforms.

I had the great pleasure of joining the member for Hastings and going out to chat to some of the lovely parents out at Langwarrin. It was really wonderful to see how meaningful the school saving bonus was for parents there, and they were being really strategic in a really positive way. Some were spending part of the funding on uniforms, and others were saving up ready for the school camps and making sure that their kids could all take part. Although we do also have our school camps and excursions program, which again is really true to our Labor values, and that is making sure that we have absolute equity and no child misses out, because that can reinforce a feeling of unworthiness. We are counteracting that, and we are making sure every Victorian child knows their worth, knows we are there for them, knows that they will get fed – they can get breakfast – and knows that they will have the ability to participate in camps and excursions.

Actually, I have had some other lovely feedback. I think one of the members for Ballarat was saying there were kids who in the past may not have been able to access new uniforms and for the first time ever they have been able, through the school saving bonus, to have new uniforms and really wear those uniforms with pride and, again, feel part of the collective, really connected, and recognise their worth, which I think is really important.

I was quite astonished with the member for Kew, and I do want to reiterate a point that was made by the member for Tarneit. We know that in January 2025 the Victorian government and the Commonwealth reached an in-principle agreement to increase Commonwealth funding for government schools from 20 per cent to 25 per cent over 10 years. The inference was – well, I do not know, it was very confusing – that we should not be trying to get our fair share. So what was the Minister for Education supposed to do – just sit back and say, ‘Oh well, let’s just see where it lands. If we get less than the other states, it does not matter’? No. On the contrary, the Minister for Education was in there fighting all the way and did manage to increase the share that we get of the national pie. Isn’t that his job? Also, he is doing it because it is the right thing to do and because that is who he is – that is where his values are. He is making sure that Victoria gets its fair share. So I do not know why the member for Kew does not want us to get our fair share and did not think the Minister for Education should be fighting for that. It is really, really confusing and it actually concerns me, because if the wheels were reversed, would she fight for a fair share for Victoria? I do not know. I do not have confidence in that. But thank goodness we have the Minister for Education that we do, who recognises the importance of Victoria having a fair share of the pie, fought for it and has actually increased what we are getting for our great state of Victoria.

Katie HALL (Footscray) (22:17): I am delighted to make a contribution on this motion. I was raised by two educators who I inherited my Labor values from, and when I think about particularly the school breakfast program, I think about my mother, who taught in the public education system for 30 years and would often make lunch for kids at school and bring it along and provide that to the children that needed a feed without anyone noticing. This is the work that we know that our teachers do every single day, whether it is deodorant or, perhaps in the past, tampons or pads or school lunches. But not anymore, because this government is doing the things that we need to do to make sure that our littlest learners, our youngest Victorians, have every opportunity to learn, and you cannot learn with an empty stomach.

I think about when I was first elected, and one of the most powerful things I saw was the school breakfast program in action at Glengala Primary School, which is now in the member for Laverton's electorate. I am so fortunate to have schools in my community where the school breakfast program destigmatises food poverty. For kids to be able to turn up before school, have a game of basketball, have some Weet-Bix or something to eat and grab some fruit for the day ahead is really just fundamental and I think the bare minimum we can do to make sure that every young person, no matter what their postcode is, no matter what their parents earn, has the opportunity to go to school with a full tummy.

I am very grateful that my mother when I was a child spoke to me about these issues and that she made me aware that there were children who were not as well off or as fortunate as our family. I think they were probably pretty lucky to have a teacher like my mum. Over the last 12 months over 100 new schools have joined the school breakfast program, taking the total number of schools to over 1100, and we have served more than 52 million breakfasts. I am very proud that Foodbank in my electorate of Footscray, based in Yarraville, are putting together the packs that go out to the schools.

I love that we are bringing back programs such as the dental program as well. I know that sometimes as a parent you receive so many Compass messages that you often go, ‘What is this one?’ Well, today I got a Compass message telling me that the Smile Squad were heading to my children’s school. I know that last week they were at the Western English Language School next door to Footscray City Primary School, and for many of these children it is their first interaction with a dentist. I know it was my son’s first interaction with a dentist. He came home with his little pack – with his toothbrush and his toothpaste – and he is benefiting from the same program that I benefited and many of us benefited from. I think there was a giraffe involved – it is stretching my memory.

A member: Harold.

Katie HALL: Harold, of course. I have a story about Harold to speak to the member for Broadmeadows about later.

A member: Tell it now.

Katie HALL: Look, it involved Golden Plains, it involves a tribute to Harolds and it involves both the wonderful Harold from Neighbours and Harold from the dental program. Anyway, I digress. The hour is late.

A member: There has got to be a third Harold.

Katie HALL: There has got to be another Harold.

One of the things I really care about and why I remember the Labor Party and why I inherited the values that my parents raised me with is because I believe in equity of access, and I think that the school breakfast program, the school dental program and the $400 school saving bonus are just such incredible things. It was such a lovely thing on the first day of school to arrive at school, even though we had the morning rush where I was saying, ‘Where are your shoes? Where’s your top? Why do you have three jumpers and no shorts?’ We turned up at school and there were so many children in beautiful new school uniforms. I think it is a really wonderful thing, and it really does help.

In addition to the camps and excursions fund, there are so many ways that this government is making sure that every child can participate fully in high-quality public education, and state schools are great schools. I really just think that every student who goes to their local state school – that is the way that our society should be, that we have great local schools. Every school is fantastic. I know in my community we have invested in the capital infrastructure we need so that the teachers and the students have the beautiful facilities that they deserve. I know at Footscray High, as an example, we have spent more than $100 million across the three campuses, and of course Footscray High was not always in existence. There was a period of time where it did not exist because it was shut down.

Belinda Wilson interjected.

Katie HALL: That is right, member for Narre Warren North. It was shut down in the 1990s when the Kennett government closed Footscray High on Wembley Avenue in Yarraville. The Labor government has brought it back and it is thriving, and it is something that the families of Melbourne’s inner west really wanted and needed and deserved.

Whether you are a student at Footscray North Primary School, Footscray Primary School or Footscray City Primary School, you have seen major capital upgrades so that you have got the beautiful facilities to learn in as well as fantastic programs like the school breakfast program, the Smile Squad and of course the $400 school saving bonus.

Sam Groth: Acting Speaker, I draw your attention to the state of the house.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Daniela De Martino): There have been several quorums called. It has been established that there is quorum on the precinct. We will not be ringing the bells any further.

Katie HALL: We have had major capital upgrades across the inner west of Melbourne, but the thing that is most important to me is that whatever direction your child wants to go in, whether they want to become a musician or whether they want to become perhaps a specialist in agriculture – we have a farm at Footscray High – we invest in these opportunities for our young people and that public education is as good as it can be. I am very proud to be a Labor member of Parliament, a member of the Labor Party, because I joined the Labor Party when I was 15 because I saw what the Kennett government was doing to local schools. I inherited my mother’s passion and my father’s passion for social justice and for equity of access, and now it is a real privilege to be a part of the government that is delivering that for children in Melbourne’s inner west. The transformation from when I was in high school to now is just extraordinary. My mum taught at Maidstone Primary School –

Steve McGhie: Great school.

Katie HALL: Yes, that is right, member for Melton. It does not exist anymore. My father attended Footscray North Primary School and Maribyrnong High School. These are great local state schools, and it really warms my heart to see many of these schools now celebrating a hundred years of educating young people in Melbourne’s inner west.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Iwan Walters): I give the call to the member for Wendouree.

Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (22:27): Thank you very much. To see another teacher, another former teacher, in the chair is very, very good. We are always teachers, like you are always an Olympian. I just want to say to the member for Footscray that my grandmother taught at Footscray. She was a teacher in Footscray during the Depression, and she had some incredible stories. She was a woman who went to Melbourne University in the 1920s, and as soon as she finished she went out to Footscray and taught there. There are generations of teachers in my family, and I am very proud to talk about being a teacher today and the contribution that teachers make. I look around, and whether it is the member for Greenvale, the member for Frankston, the member for Monbulk, who was just here, the member for Werribee – I think we have heard he is a teacher. Does everyone know the member for Werribee is a schoolteacher? Because I have heard that.

A member interjected.

Juliana ADDISON: Firefighters and schoolteachers. It is with this great love of education and strong understanding of education that it is an absolute privilege tonight to be able to get up to support the motion that this house recognises the Allan Labor government’s commitment to working families by expanding free breakfast clubs, saving parents $400 through the school saving bonus and extending the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund, ensuring that every student has access to essential programs no matter what their circumstances. If something wants to be emblematic of the Labor Party, this motion is. This is about our values. This is about who we are. This is about equity. This is about education being a game changer. I am really, really pleased that the Legislative Council has provided me with this opportunity tonight at 10:30 to talk about this issue that I am so passionate about. I am indebted to the Legislative Council, and I thank them for the work that they are doing which allows me to do this. I also note the member for Sunbury, another former teacher, is in the house, so I am in excellent company. They say you are judged by the company you keep, and when I think about the teachers in the Labor caucus and the people who are children of teachers or partners of teachers – I know the Minister for Equality’s husband’s is a teacher. There are a lot of teachers in here, and all our kids have been taught by them, so it is great.

We have really done a lot when we talk about the Education State. Victoria is known for being the Education State, and it is a real disappointment to me that the shadow opposition is not proud of the Education State. She does not get it. She does not understand what we are doing and what our vision is. This is a vision that has been around since 2015, a vision of the former great education minister, and that is James Merlino, our former Deputy Premier. His leadership on education was really the driver for the Education State.

When we look at it, it is not just about infrastructure. It is about the whole package, the whole student, and it is about mental health and supporting our students who struggle with mental health. We know that is such an issue for students in Victoria and around Australia and the world – we know that with our GPs in schools program. I am going to talk a lot about how important it is that we make sure our kids get good nutritious breakfasts, because we know that that is a really important part of school. And there is my love of school camps. I got to go on school camps, and I will talk about camps as well.

But let us go back to our state’s proud history, because tonight is all about history. I will not go back as far as others, but I will go back to 1872, when the Education Act 1872 was introduced. In doing so, prior to federation, Victoria was the first colony to offer free, secular and compulsory education, leading all of the colonies, like we always do. We are the leaders of our nation. We set agendas, and then the others follow. I am really proud that education is one that we are doing. One hundred and fifty years on, we are seeing that with our government: the very proud Allan Labor government’s commitment to free, secular and compulsory education continues. We do have a really, really strong vision of what we want to achieve with the Education State, and it is to deliver excellence in every classroom in every school in every part of the state. Importantly, this vision has been created with parents, with stakeholders and with school leaders. Once again, James Merlino, our education minister from 2014 to 2022, made it the number one priority of our state, because what is more important for a state than our future? That is what this is all about.

When we look at that, we have to say how do we build the Education State? A part of it is infrastructure. We have talked about the Kennett school closures that shut down schools in my community. People still mourn those schools. But guess what, we are making sure that no matter where you live, whether it is in metropolitan Melbourne or in regional or rural Victoria, you will get a great public school education thanks to the Education State. Just in my electorate alone we have had serious infrastructure investment. At Ballarat High School we have the JJ Sheehan building. JJ Sheehan was a member of this place. He was a proud Labor member of this place in the 1950s, after the split in 1955. Sadly, we lost the seat of Ballarat back then. He went back on the tools and became principal of Ballarat High and was one of the greatest principals ever of Ballarat High – a Labor man who lived his values, whether it was in this chamber or whether it was teaching kids in Ballarat. I have been so fortunate to have my children educated by his kids. Kate Sheehan was my kids’ kindergarten teacher. There is this lovely synergy of living in a local community; JJ’s daughter taught my daughters. It is something I am really proud of.

Mount Rowan Secondary College is something we are so proud of. The member for Ripon is also in the catchment area, with Miners Rest, Creswick and Clunes. In the heart of Wendouree we have just done the most beautiful building, with new STEM classrooms. It is a game changer. This school continues to grow. The reputation of the school continues to grow. I thank the leadership there of Seona Murnane and Nick Stephen, who are doing an outstanding job and making that school one that we can all be proud of. At Phoenix College there are the new sports facilities, with basketball courts. What I love when we invest in our schools is that we are investing in the community. My daughter gets to play basketball at Phoenix College; we bring the community into Phoenix College, the old Sebas Tech. It used to be a pretty rough and tough school, but now as Phoenix College it is literally rising from the ashes. It is a great school. We bring the whole community in there for basketball on a Monday night and Friday night, because when you invest in state schools, you invest in communities. That is what this is all about.

We have done amazing work at Black Hill and Macarthur Street. Macarthur Street has the best primary school toilets I have ever seen. They are amazing; I love them. We have refurbished the Forest Street Primary admin and classroom, and my very favourite project, the Delacombe Primary School stadium, is a $6 million world-class stadium. We announced it in 2018 and we delivered it on time and under budget, and once again we have community groups, whether it is the local cheerleaders or basketball teams or touch football, all using this facility around the clock, as well as the school getting to access it. One of my favourite things when I was visiting Delacombe Primary School was that parents of kids at that school were constructing the new gym, and kids who had been at that school were apprentices and tradies on that job, because that is what happens when you invest in our schools; you invest in the community, you create jobs, you support the local economy and everyone is a winner.

I have got to talk about breakfast clubs, because we’ve had over 40 million breakfasts served, and we are going to keep serving those up. I have had the opportunity to go to Yuille Park and make scrambled eggs and serve pancakes. Do you know what is great about Yuille Park? Like so many, it brings the parents and the kids together. Once again it is all about community – it is about parents and carers connecting and supporting our kids – and it makes a real difference. We are going to extend that. We announced in the last budget we are extending it for more schools. So welcome, Ballarat North Primary School, you are getting a breakfast club as well. We are going to make sure that all our schools are going to have access to it.

I have talked too much about all these other great things. I want to say thank you to the families who have gone out and accessed the school saving bonus in my community. I have got the figure; I have got to get it right. $1.657 million has remained in the pockets and the wallets of people in Wendouree ‍– $1.657 million that they have spent on textbooks and school uniforms, as well as back-to-school expenses. We know how hard it is. I know that even when I go to schools now principals are saying the kids are loving their uniforms because they are not wearing hand-me-down ones. They have been able to get brand new uniforms. They are so proud of their uniforms. Uniforms are the great equaliser, and that is what it is all about. It is about saying to every kid, ‘Welcome, you’re a part of a group, you’re a part of a team. It doesn’t matter what your household income is. You are welcome. You’re a part of our school.’ I support this motion. I recommend it to the house.

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (22:37): I was at Dallas primary school when we had the 25 millionth school breakfast, and it was just so lovely to be there. I was with the then Minister for Education. That school has had a school breakfast program for a long time; the parents volunteer. They even have a bus that picks up schoolkids to get them to the breakfast program, and that makes a huge difference to getting kids to school in a fairly disadvantaged part of Melbourne where there are a lot of complexities with families and a lot of needs. Dallas primary school does an incredible job making sure every kid gets the opportunities and the advantages that going to school every day on a full tummy brings you. Breakfasts will now be available in every school, and I am really proud of our government doing that.

We have also got the $400 bonus for kids in every state school as well, and I really want to thank the admin staff for the work that they have put into that to make sure families can access the help with uniforms, books and activities for kids. We have got the Glasses for Kids program. We have got the free dental program, which is just a game changer. Dental health is often overlooked, and it is one of the most preventable forms of hospitalisation, particularly for under-5s, and I am so glad that we have got that dental program. The Get Active Kids vouchers are awesome too and make a huge difference to a lot of families in my electorate. We have also got free GPs in schools, and I was at the Hume secondary college with the minister when that was announced. It is another program I am really proud of, making sure kids have got access to GPs in their schools who can deal with a lot of health issues, particularly early when you have got that access. Dallas primary also has the early years program.

So many schools in my electorate have been upgraded. I just want to go through them all. There was $497,000 for Broadmeadows Preschool for an upgrade there. These were all done to prepare for the free three- and four-year old kinder, which is nation-leading and means that kids have that extra help in those early years and get all of the advantages of their schooling. There was $641,000 for Gowrie Primary School; $794,000 for Meadows Primary kinder; $524,000 to upgrade Dallas kinder; $1.35 million for the Holy Child kinder, which is a gorgeous little kinder, and I was really pleased to open that with the minister at the time; $1.5 million for the Upfield kinder; $370,000 for the Fawkner Primary kinder; $1.4 million for the Glenroy Central kinder; and $1.6 million for the Glenroy Hub Children’s Centre. That is another building I am really proud of as well. That is part of the Glenroy library project, a project we started when I was on council. We bought the land, and I was part of the plan there to put the neighbourhood house, the kinder, maternal and child health, child care, library, learning spaces, a health centre and all of those things that work great together, and of course it is set in the beautiful Bridget Shortell Reserve, so it is a wonderful hub for Glenroy and a project I am really proud of. We also have $1.4 million at Glenroy West kinder, $1.6 million at Will Will Rook Preschool and $640,000 at Bellevue kinder, and we are about to open the new Oak Park kinder. There has been incredible investment in kinders in my electorate.

I want to talk about Wimbi, the new early learning centre, government run and government owned, one of the first of 50, and it was opened at Fawkner recently with the Premier and the Minister for Children. It was very exciting, and it is just a beautiful centre. It is set right adjacent to Moomba Park Primary School, a wonderful little primary school, and I was there with the Deputy Premier just a couple of weeks ago. When I was there last time, when we turned the sod on the early years centre, I asked one of the kids ‘What do you need here?’, and he said, ‘We need more soccer balls.’ So I went and got some soccer balls, and it was so great to drop them off. So now they have also got more soccer balls. That is nothing compared to the investment we put into the Wimbi early years centre. Government-run and government-owned child care is really important, and it is high quality and we know that our kids are getting the best start there.

We have also got free TAFE of course, which is an incredible thing for helping with the cost of living. Education has always been my number one priority, even though I am not a teacher – there are so many teachers in here. I am not a teacher, but I do very much value education. It was really great to open the new $60 million Health and Community Centre of Excellence at Kangan Institute in Broadmeadows with the Premier again recently. You might have seen the building go up on Dimboola Road. It is just incredible, and there are over 36 free TAFE courses running there, including nursing, building and construction, early childhood, community services, allied health, dental, IT, accounting, aged care, animal studies, engineering, cookery, concreting, hospitality, mental health, horticulture, alcohol and drugs, youth work, vet nursing and cybersecurity. That is on top of what it offers in jobs in construction, plumbing and the electrical jobs we need for the future.

I have also been advocating for a university in Melbourne’s north. It is a pretty long way from Bundoora to Footscray, and it was great to have the federal government and local government on board. We all work together. Basem Abdo, the candidate for Calwell, proudly announced a new university hub in Broadmeadows, which is a real winner for our community. We also got $3.3 million from the feds for a rescoping of all of the things we can do in Broadmeadows, the plans there. That is really exciting, and I thank Basem for his support there.

We have got a new tech school coming up. That was an election commitment of mine, and that is in Broadmeadows. Construction is about to begin there. Again, that is an incredible benefit to my local community. We have got full funding for government schools, and I am really proud of the federal Labor government for funding that. That is also a game changer and something we have been working on for a long time, and I thank the Minister for Education for his advocacy on that.

Of course there is so much investment in my other local schools. I have got a huge list here. I think I need more than 10 minutes, which I never like talking for, but I will keep talking. We have the $20 million Broadmeadows Special Developmental School upgrade, and I am really proud of our government’s investment in special schools. All of mine have had big upgrades.

Everybody deserves a good education. It was great to be out at Broadmeadows Special Development School recently, and we did the mini Woolies program. That is a program where Woolworths comes in and helps the kids learn retail skills so that they can get jobs. I did not unionise them yet, but that will be my next move. It was great and the kids were having such a fun time. I was talking to Malaak, and she is a wonderful school leader. She was just so happy to have us there and have new skills to learn and skills that will help with employment. She is really excited about the new $20 million rebuild there as well.

Glenroy West Primary I used to walk past every day as a kid. They are great for active travel. I was with the Deputy Premier there to open the $21 million upgrade to the primary school, with three new learning areas linked to outdoor classrooms and a new outdoor play and learning area, plus $1.4 million for the kinder, which I mentioned earlier.

I am really proud of the election commitment I was able to get committed to, and that is $14.5 million to upgrade John Fawkner College, delivering new classrooms and world-class science, technology, arts and food technology buildings. I thank Anthony. We have been working really closely on a lot of our schools together and on the northern Merri-bek education plan. It is great to work with you, Acting Speaker Walters, as well on the schools that border our northern boundaries. I am really proud of what we have been able to achieve at Joh Fawkner College.

I was at Glenroy College yesterday, which had a $9.5 million upgrade that the previous member for Pascoe Vale had advocated for. It was great to see that come through. They are just such a wonderful school. I was there last night. We had an iftar, and they had an Easter celebration. It is a beautiful community and I really love going there. The new principal is doing a great job and the staff are doing a wonderful job.

We had a $12 million upgrade for Hume Valley School, and that looks wonderful. I am also really proud of our government’s investment in after-school and school holiday programs for kids at special schools. It makes a huge difference to families; it means that they can work full-time. Previously if you could not get your kids into school holiday programs or into after-school activities, it was pretty hard to work full-time. So I am really proud of our Labor investment in special schools there. We had a $10.8 million upgrade and modernisation at Jacana School for Autism – I will leave it there. (Time expired)

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (22:47): At this late hour I have been enduring the various members from the other side prattling on about how they cook eggs and go and provide free breakfasts and the missioning that they do in their schools. But I want to talk tonight about the failures of this government in looking after education, particularly in those communities that only have one school. Many of the Labor members up speaking tonight probably come from communities where families get real choice, where families can actually go to schools and get a choice. But out in the country you only get one school, and that school should be a high-quality one; it should be one that provides opportunity and choices for the students. But not out in Polwarth, not out in country Vic. It is a sad reflection on the last 10 years of Labor.

The average non-attendance rate at the schools in my electorate is somewhere between 40 and 60 per cent of students not attending regularly. That is a shameful example and reflection of the complete and utter neglect of this government in actually looking after the real welfare of students. It is all very well to say, ‘Oh, we’re funnelling all this money into breakfast,’ but when the kids do not even get to school to have the breakfast, that is a problem. That is a problem that this government has refused to address. There are no active programs for working towards and minimising truancy in regional communities. If you do not turn up to the school in your country town, no-one goes to find you and no-one goes to find out why you are not there, and there is no support for those schools, those principals or those teachers to help get the kids to school and keep them at school.

It is an indictment of the way that this government has lost focus on what is actually important. You can have all the breakfast programs you like, but it does not matter because kids are not even getting to school. This government has done nothing to improve the attendance rate at schools in the electorate of Polwarth – not one skerrick – in the 10 years I have been there. Worse still, the principals of the schools are gagged from talking about this problem in their community, and that is a real problem. This government are so afraid of allowing active and robust discussion about the educational outcomes in small, regional communities that they actually gag principals. When a Liberal Party member calls the principals together for a meeting and asks, ‘What can we do as a community to get more kids to school more often?’ the education department rings up. They do not ring up and say, ‘Well done on your breakfast program,’ they say, ‘Don’t you start talking about the fact that our system is failing. Don’t you dare be caught talking about that.’ That is what this government does. If they put as much effort into getting better outcomes for kids as they put into silencing the truth, we would all be a lot better off.

But it is worse than that. If you have a school that is under-resourced and not able to deal with the complex needs of its students and the students do not turn up, wouldn’t you think you would work actively to try and have more choices for those kids and find out why they cannot go to school and what is stopping them from attending. No, they do not do that. In my electorate I have probably got most of schools somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes apart, which you would think is not too far, but it requires bus transport and a lot of coordination. In many cases dangerous, poorly maintained roads separate the various towns. For example, one of the state’s only remaining technical schools is in Cobden, geographically smack bang in the centre of the Polwarth electorate. If that is the only secondary school experience providing a trade, manual and skills-based education, wouldn’t you think a progressive government that was interested in helping kids to take up those learning opportunities would actually allow the kids to go from one town to another to take up those opportunities. It would not be that difficult. No, not this government, because it is more interested in protecting union outcomes and the outcomes for teachers than it is in allowing kids to go to the school that is going to provide them with the best and fairest opportunity, and that is an indictment.

In the case of some of my towns, where we have in recent reporting periods 60 per cent non-attendance, you might ask the question: if those kids had an opportunity to go to another school that actually provided them with the education that was relevant to them, would we in fact get them turning up more often? I would say the chances would probably be greatly improved, but that is not how this government sees it. It is getting worse than that still, because we have now got schools that are practically empty. I refer to one school in particular, a P–12. It only has eight students enrolled that actually live in that community. Instead, under some sort of convoluted system, that school is now using its rare and scarce resources to bus kids who have higher needs from another community into their school to try and bolster their numbers. They are not doing it for the best educational outcomes for kids, they are doing it to try and maintain the numbers at the school. You might be able to mount the argument for that, but there are a lot of kids that live in that community. The school has deteriorated such that their parents are driving them 50 minutes into Apollo Bay to another school that is doing really well, that is well funded and well supported, and they are going to that other school. Instead of having good local, easily accessible education, parents are having to drive on dangerous roads in multiple cars to take their kids to another community because the department has fundamentally failed in its obligation to make sure the education being offered in that community is relevant and meets the needs of that community.

Colin Brooks interjected.

Richard RIORDAN: I am more than happy to tell you which school, but I do not wish to shame that particular school or community. But if you looked on a map –

The ACTING SPEAKER (Iwan Walters): Through the Chair.

Richard RIORDAN: If the minister would like to meet me afterwards, I would be more than happy to share that with him, because it is certainly not being listened to by the department. The entire parent community board has left. They have all left. They have all taken their students to another school. This sort of thing goes on and what does the department do? What does this government do? What does this minister do? They remain deaf to the voices and the concerns of the community, and they allow these poor outcomes to continue.

There needs to be a focus on quality education and on meeting the needs of the communities that the students belong to. This is the great shame of what this government have done, because they are very, very happy to talk about the various programs that they are implementing and, as I said earlier, they are very happy to turn up and cook bacon and eggs and whatever else they have prattled on about tonight. But are they sitting there and looking at the communities and the students and asking the question: are the kids in this community getting a fair deal? No, they are absolutely not getting a fair deal. They are being overlooked because this government is prioritising every other aspirational ideal that it has but the fundamentals of helping a kid feel comfortable and turning up as regularly as they possibly can to actually get an education, because you do not get an education if you do not turn up to school. That needs to be an absolute focus, and when this government refuses to address that, it is a great concern.

I looked at the member for Mordialloc, and he is aware that we actually had a very fine investment in my community’s special development school. It does not come easy to me to praise the government, but that particular case is a good example. So there is evidence that the state can do a good job, but that is only one out of 40-odd schools in my community where the government has had a focus. It is to the detriment of everybody else, because the previous school that those students were in is now sitting idle while 90 students with high needs and special needs are enrolled and being taught in containers and portable units on another site. This government has allowed the vacant school site to sit empty with the prospect of being demolished for some harebrained project that is unfunded and still not even known to the public while these 90 kids with high needs – we are talking about young mums, we are talking about kids with drug and alcohol addiction that are being cared for by others – are being taught in containers and portable units. This government sits here tonight and goes on about its breakfast clubs, and yet the most vulnerable people in my community are still being neglected and not thought about.

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (22:57): As I rise at this late hour – it is nearly 11 pm and we are fast approaching midnight – I would like to take a moment to thank the hardworking staff at Parliament: the clerks and the catering team, who are kept keeping us all fed late into the evening. I know we also have a lot of hardworking staff in our ministerial offices and electorate offices. I want to thank them as well, in particular my own hardworking electorate officer Ashlee, who is keenly watching proceedings from her home right now, and I am sure the rest of my hardworking electorate team will be downloading this video in the morning.

It truly is a pleasure to rise and speak on the motion before the house:

That this house recognises the Allan Labor government’s commitment to working families by expanding free breakfast clubs, saving parents $400 through the school saving bonus and extending the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund, ensuring every student has access to essential programs, no matter their circumstances.

This motion speaks not only to the work that the Allan Labor government is doing when it comes to providing real cost-of-living relief for hardworking Victorian families but also about education and Victorian schools, which is probably my favourite thing to talk about here. Those opposite may complain that education is something we spend too much time talking about or that we focus too much on Victorian schools or that we talk too much about the incredible schools that we are upgrading in our electorates – and we are so proud of those achievements. But that is just what happens when you have a state Labor government – a Labor government that values public education, a Labor government that values teachers and educators, a Labor government that understands the transformative role of education in people’s lives and a Labor government that wants to give every single Victorian child the best possible start to life.

This does not happen by accident, and it certainly does not happen by chance. It happens when you are a government that listens to teachers and educators and understands what they need, listens to school communities and understands what they need and elects teachers to represent the Victorian communities. We have no shortage of teachers on this side of the house. The member for Bellarine was a teacher, the member for Greenvale was a teacher and the member for Monbulk was a teacher, just to name a few. And of course the new member for Werribee was a teacher just a few short months ago. The member for Wendouree was a history teacher. I believe the member for Narre Warren South might have had a stint in teaching, and the member for Sunbury – gosh, there are a lot of members on this side who were teachers, aren’t there? I believe the member for Frankston was a firefighter, but he might have also had a hand at teaching, perhaps, before that career.

Belinda Wilson: I’m not a teacher.

Ella GEORGE: And I’m not a teacher myself, but my mum was a teacher. She was a primary school teacher at what would be considered a low socio-economic school, where hard working families sometimes needed a little bit of extra help to ensure that their kids got the best start to life that they deserved. My mum told me about kids who did not have breakfast before they came to school, kids who did not bring any lunch with them, who had to rely on the generosity of their teachers to find them something to eat or pick up an extra sandwich during their lunchbreak. She told me about the impact on learning for those children who did not come to school with a full tummy, the impact it had on their ability to focus, to learn and to really get the most out of their education. I grew up with these stories from my mum, and it centred in me the importance of great public schools and great public education and the importance of great Labor governments, because only Labor will deliver great schools and a great curriculum.

You can have the best schools and the best teachers and the best curriculum, but we all know how hard it can be to learn on an empty stomach. That is exactly where our breakfast clubs come in, providing a free nutritious breakfast and, in many cases, providing fruit for extra snacks throughout the day. Since this program was established in 2016 the Labor government has invested over $162 million in breakfast clubs. Across the state, when breakfast clubs are rolled out to every single government school by June next year, this will mean 600,000 students will have access to a free and healthy breakfast every single morning to have the best start their day and set them up for a great day of learning. Right now we have over a thousand schools that have a free breakfast club. In the past year alone we have had another 100 schools sign up to this free program. School breakfast clubs have served 52 million meals, giving busy families one less thing to worry about in the mornings. Before we had breakfast clubs, one in five students would go to school without breakfast each day, and that is why we did something about it. All of the government schools across the Lara electorate are proudly home to breakfast clubs. I have spoken to many, many students, teachers and parents who volunteer at these breakfast clubs – parents who have told me just how incredible breakfast clubs are to them, not just as a place to pop in for breakfast but a place to connect with friends, have a chat before the day gets started and build relationships with one another. They have really become integral parts of school communities right across the state.

Going to school is so much more than learning how to read or write or how to do maths, which I will admit is not my strong point. I do not know my times table. I do not know how to do long division or short division actually. I can barely multiply. I pretty much need a calculator for everything. But what happens outside of the classroom – going on camps and excursions and other activities – can be just as important. Some of my fondest memories of school are from things like Camp Jungai in year 7, where we were thrown into a camp experience not knowing anyone – it was a new school for a lot of people – surviving Camp Jungai, surviving water activities and bushwalks and the like. I think it was in year 9 when we went to the Mitchell River for hiking and kayaking. That was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life, and I still have so many fond memories from that week. I remember going to the zoo in primary school for amazing excursions. No student should have to miss out on these opportunities.

That is exactly why we are continuing along with our Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund. I was so pleased to see the Premier and the Deputy Premier announce the continuation of this program in February this year at Wyndham Central College in the heart of the Werribee electorate. I hope the member for Werribee has a contribution to make on this motion later this evening, because as a former schoolteacher, he would see every single day how much the investments that the Labor government is making into things like breakfast clubs, into things like the school saving bonus and into the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund are changing the lives of students – students who need it. This year families of more than 200,000 students across the state will be able to access the support in the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund. That means $154 for primary school students and $256 for secondary school students.

These investments into breakfast clubs and the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund are on top of that $400 school saving bonus, which every student in a government school right across Victoria is eligible for. I know that this means a saving of thousands of dollars for some large families in the Lara electorate. This is a huge financial support for families, covering the cost of uniforms, textbooks, excursions and other activities. I can tell you, and I am pleased to share with the house, that this has been so well taken up across the Lara electorate. In fact, to date we have seen $310,000 returned for the cost of textbooks, $915,000 for the cost of uniforms and $402,000 for the cost of activities, taking that to a total amount of $1,628,000 that has been returned to hardworking families in the Lara electorate through the Allan Labor government’s $400 school saving bonus.

I am short on time, and I would be up here all night if I had the time to speak about the upgrades that have taken place in the schools across the Lara electorate. While I would like to claim credit for them all, I do want to acknowledge John Eren, the former member for Lara, and his hard work in securing an upgrade to every single school in the Lara electorate across his term. That is a remarkable achievement, and that is something that Labor members care about. That is something that Labor members will always fight for, to get their schools upgraded, because our schools deserve upgrades, and that is exactly what this Allan Labor government is about – supporting schools, supporting teachers, supporting families and supporting students. I commend this motion to the house.

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (23:07): At the core of this motion the government is seeking to congratulate itself for the provision of services to schools, no matter their circumstances. I start by saying that the Minister for Education has not yet spoken, but he is here in the chamber. I feel confident that after I speak, he will reply. He will reply and he will take the opportunity to speak to an education motion about the portfolio that he represents. He certainly would not want a motion about his own portfolio to be considered by this Parliament without taking the opportunity to speak. I feel certain that after I have spoken, he will speak next. In doing so I will raise a number of things for him to respond to which go to the point of the motion about the government providing funding no matter the circumstances. Well, ‘no matter the circumstances’ – isn’t that interesting.

In my community the government at the last election committed, three years ago, to fund – and we were surprised; I will say we were surprised – two schools. We were surprised that they found some schools in our electorate to provide a commitment to. I do not know how they found them – it might have been by luck. I am sure it was my advocacy. But they found, finally, two schools and committed funding to them. The funding was committed three years ago, for three years ago, and guess how much money has been delivered of that commitment three years ago? I am taking punts here. How much money? Zero dollars. Can you believe it? Who would have thought that before an election Labor would promise little children money.

Ben Carroll interjected.

James NEWBURY: The minister just said, ‘What was your margin?’ It was close, and that is the point. At the last election the Labor government promised money because they thought it would impact the vote. And guess what happened? It certainly did not work for them, so after the election, as the minister has just admitted – no money for the schools. Can you believe that a government would promise little children funding and then deliver nothing? Can you believe it? How could you possibly do that to children? There are not just two schools that have been ripped off, there are 29. Twenty-nine schools have been promised money, and money has never been delivered. To be frank, I think it would have been more up-front for those schools to not have been promised money than to not tell the truth to them when that promise was given. I do acknowledge that it was not the current minister who made the promise. But he has inherited this portfolio, and I would say the least he could do is live up to the commitment to those little children.

Let me tell him about those schools, because he has not yet visited a school in my electorate. I can tell him about Hampton Primary School. Hampton Primary School – $9.8 million. Not real money, of course, because it has never come, but that was the election commitment back then.

Richard Riordan interjected.

James NEWBURY: That amount of money was going to be a game changer for my school, member for Polwarth, and build a fantastic facility at the front of the school and also help with the growing population of the local community, because Hampton is an area that the government have prioritised to densify. Now it is one of the 20-storey tower locations for this government.

None of the schools in the area have had an upgrade. Like everything else this government does, they promise towers for my community and then not one dollar for infrastructure, not one dollar for schools. Hampton Primary, as I said – $9.8 million – a promise that has not been delivered and one of the 29.

The other one is Gardenvale Primary School – $11.7 million. It is a significant commitment but not real.

Tim Richardson interjected.

James NEWBURY: We matched it, member for Mordialloc, of course we did. And we would have delivered it, member for Mordialloc. I feel very confident that the minister is going to respond to me and talk about those 29 schools and talk about the money that will flow to those schools and the commitment that will be delivered to them, because a promise made should be delivered, especially when it comes to kids. My schools know that this promise will be drawn out till the next election and the government will not live up to that commitment. They might promise another fake announcement at the election, but there is nothing worse than promising little children money and then not delivering on it.

If I can also mention, while I am speaking about the schools that have been promised money not delivered, one particular school that is in desperate need, while the minister is here, Brighton Primary School. Brighton Primary School has never had money. No-one in living memory can remember the state government providing proper capital funds to Brighton Primary School, and in Brighton people live a long time. At Brighton Primary we have more than half the school in demountables, and the independent federal member and I have campaigned together, which I appreciate is rare, on this particular issue, because at that school we have children with hearing deficiencies. It is one of the rare schools in the metro area that have kids with hearing deficiencies, and those demountables are next to the train line. These kids, who have serious hearing deficiencies, are being put in demountables next to a train line. You cannot tell me that if you are looking at schools that deserve infrastructure upgrades, that would not be at the top of your list. Set aside any promises made at any other schools. This is one of the rare locations in metro Melbourne that specifically houses and looks after and teaches kids with hearing deficiencies. The teachers at the school do an incredible job, and kids from the whole region who have hearing difficulties go there because they know they are going to a school with fantastic teachers who do a really great job, but they are in 50-year-old demountables directly next to a train line. The federal member and I did a video to illustrate the noise next to those demountables, and the noise is unbelievable. To think that these kids have not had the opportunity of infrastructure they deserve, especially when it is a school that provides a specialist hearing difficulty unit, is just appalling.

I know the minister is here. I am glad to know that he is, I take it, going to next speak on this motion, because I am sure he would not let this motion go without speaking on it. I mean, it is on his portfolio area, but 29 schools that were promised funding three years ago have been strung along for three years. The measure I hope of this minister is that he sets aside the poor decisions that were made previously and does the right thing by those kids, that he does the right thing and lives up to the commitments made, shows that they were not hollow commitments, they were not political, as the minister said before, but that they will be delivered, that they were not just about margins and that this government will deliver them. I invite the minister to now speak.

John LISTER (Werribee) (23:17): I am not angry with the member opposite; I am just disappointed. We should speak at a working volume in this place. Unfortunately the member who has just spoken, the member for Brighton, seems to forget that this place is about getting the job done and not just raising your voice in some way to act more convincing. As someone who taught persuasive techniques as recently as term 4 last year, I know volume is not one of those persuasive techniques when it comes to speaking. I would counsel the member to perhaps go back to year 10 English and consult the English curriculum which we are rolling out – Victorian curriculum 2.0 – something else that we are helping to bring into state, independent and private schools across Victoria.

However, I digress. I would like to support the motion that we recognise this government’s commitment to working families by expanding programs like the free breakfast clubs, the school saving bonus and the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund and ensuring that every student has access to essential programs no matter the circumstances.

I am delighted to be able to speak on this motion because in my electorate, as the minister well knows, we have some amazing schools that run most of these programs. School breakfast clubs run in all of our primary schools and in fact all of our secondary schools as of this year, so I would like to give a shout-out to Little River Primary School and their principal Gavin Nelson, who does an amazing power of work for the small community out there in Little River; Manorvale Primary School and Brianna Morelli, who I note went to Manorvale Primary School and is now helping lead that school; Thomas Chirnside Primary School and Bev Thompson, who does great work there; Riverwalk Primary and Paris Spencer, the principal there who does the excellent work with her team; and Wyndham Park Primary and John Eskander, who I was at a professional development conference in term 4 with, and we were talking all about the school breakfast club and some of those other equity opportunities that this Labor government funds in my electorate. It is fantastic to be now in this place supporting it and making sure it gets done. There is Werribee Primary School and David Quinn down there with his team, doing great work just around the corner of my house as a true Werribee local.

I would also like to give a shout-out to Wyndham Central College. As someone who has been one of the school breakfast club coordinators at Wyndham Central College, I have been there early in the morning making cheese toasties. Sometimes we would even get some pikelets made; we had all sorts of condiments ready. One of the fantastic things about this program that we ran at Wyndham Central was that kids who came in had the opportunity to speak to their teachers quite often. There would be conflict in classrooms sometimes, and the best way to help resolve that is over food and to talk to those teachers –

Dylan Wight interjected.

John LISTER: breaking bread – and to break down those boundaries. Obviously this is fuel for the day, but it is also a good way of helping our classes be more cohesive.

I would also like to give a shout-out to the principal at Wyndham Central College, Leanne Gagatsis. I note that we made the announcement with the Premier and Deputy Premier about extending our fantastic Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund and our $400 school saving bonus at Wyndham Central College, where we met many of the staff with whom I have had the pleasure of going on many an excursion that these programs have helped run. I have been out to the Grampians, in fact, on one of the best year 11 outdoor ed camps that I think I have ever been on. I drove a bus – one of the important skills that you get as a teacher. We have all been there. If you work at a school, you end up becoming a bus driver, which is a great skill to have. I would also like to give a shout-out to Werribee Secondary College and Amanda Mullins, who leads the charge there. They also run a school breakfast club. The Deputy Premier and I have been to Manor Lakes P–12 recently – only about a month ago – to meet with their new executive principal Tori Mulligan to talk about the amazing work that Manor Lakes is doing.

There is Wyndham Vale Primary School and Chris Johns – an excellent team there. I have also been to Riverbend Primary with the Deputy Premier a few months ago.

A member interjected.

John LISTER: Exactly. It is amazing support that we show for our new state schools that we are building. I would like to thank Lisa for taking us around and showing us their excellent literacy program funded by the Labor government. Also we went to Ngarri Primary School and met with Honey Stirling. I will be out there in a couple of weeks time to go and see the program that they are running. We have also visited and had a look at Laa Yulta in Mambourin, with Mark Zahra leading the charge there; Nganboo Borron School, down near Lollipop Creek, with Michele Marcu doing an excellent job with her team there; and Walcom Ngarrwa Secondary College, with Bradley Moyle leading the charge as they move into having a year 9 cohort next year, which also runs one of our school breakfast clubs.

I know I am taking you on a bit of a tour of the Werribee electorate, but I would just like to reflect on something. Again, I love reflecting on the by-election. I was with the member for Nepean at Manor Lakes P–12 that morning, and I noted former Premier Jeff Kennett was there.

Dylan Wight interjected.

John LISTER: Yes, a school that he didn’t close – in fact we had to build it. 350 schools were closed by Mr Kennett. As much as I have respect for him as someone who has experience running governments, I think it is pretty disappointing to see someone at a brand new school handing out for the Liberal candidate when he closed 350 government schools. You see, this is the party that supports government schools.

Richard Riordan interjected.

John LISTER: Righto. Sorry, the member for Polwarth is being a bit noisy. I would like to –

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair.

John LISTER: Sorry. Again, I am not angry with those opposite, just disappointed.

We do not want to give away free lunches to rich bosses like the Liberals’ mates in Canberra.

The member for Kew spoke a lot about teacher wages in their contribution. I think that is quite interesting. As someone who was very recently on teacher wages, I understand quite a lot. In fact I was also on my AEU sub-branch, and a shout-out to the AEU and the work they do. I hope the good comrade, the member for Kew, is open to speaking to the AEU. She spoke about us being the lowest paid. What I would say is that our teacher wages match what we are doing, and we did see an increase with our last enterprise bargaining agreement. The other thing that I would observe too is that we freed up time for teachers to be able to better plan and support their students in their classrooms. We also increased the wages of our hardworking education support staff, who do an amazing amount of work in our schools.

I would just like to also observe that if the good comrade, the member for Kew, wants to talk about teacher wages, last time the Liberals were in power teachers went on strike, and I remember this because I took the day off and went with Mum to that strike. There was not much school happening. The independent schoolteachers and the state schoolteachers stood together because they knew that those opposite did not care about their wages and conditions and did not want to see them get a better deal. Well, this side wants to support our teachers. We not only support our teachers through good wages and conditions, we also support people who are wanting to join the great profession that we have been a part of. That is why we have free degrees and are making sure that if you are doing a teaching degree you will not have to pay HECS.

Those opposite cut the education maintenance allowance and the free fruit program. I know a few of them over there probably have pictures of Margaret Thatcher in their offices. ‘Maggie Thatcher, milk snatcher’ – well, here we have the fruit snatchers on the other side. Shameful. I do apologise because my volume has gone above working volume and we need to return to working volume so that we can reflect on what this motion really means. This represents how the Labor government on this side has supported our students not just through having excellent schools and not just through opening five new schools in my electorate and upgrading two, but also through some of those other measures like our Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund and school breakfast club. I would like to reflect that the maturity from some of those opposite is not what I would expect, and I would encourage them to go to some of our great schools in the Werribee electorate to see how they should really behave.

Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (23:27): I should have had that Red Bull I was offered because I will struggle to get through this next 10 minutes. I am pleased to contribute to this motion on the Allan Labor government’s commitment to working with families. I want to start by talking about the schools in my electorate and the incredible work that they do. Since coming to government in 2014 we have delivered unprecedented funding to the schools across the Geelong electorate – not only the infrastructure but the programs and supports that support our communities, families, students and the schools themselves.

The schools in Geelong have seen many benefits from good government policy, and that is what we have been doing from the day that we were elected – good strong government policy. That is what makes significant change for schools and for our students and their families right across Victoria. Oberon Primary School, for example, was completely redeveloped. Wangala Primary School was a whole new school. When we came to government, there had not been any new schools during the full term of the previous government. There were no new schools. Wangala Primary School, as I said, was completely rebuilt. Ashby Primary School was completely redeveloped. Manifold Heights had significant upgrades to the school. Geelong East Primary School, we are about to commence, and this is the last school of all of my schools to get a significant major redevelopment. Tate Street Primary School was upgraded, Whittington Primary School was completely rebuilt, Newcomb Primary School was redeveloped, Newtown Primary School was completely redeveloped, Chilwell Primary School had a significant upgrade, Geelong South Primary School had a complete upgrade, Fyans Park Primary School had a complete upgrade and Moolap Primary School had an upgrade. Bannockburn P–12 was a brand new school in around 2016–17. Geelong High School – we virtually rebuilt that school. Newcomb Secondary College had a complete redevelopment. Matthew Flinders girls college had a complete redevelopment. My community were just so delighted at the state-of-the-art buildings that we delivered as a Labor government. Of course it is not only the buildings, it is the people that are in it. Our teachers and the staff that are at those schools working every day with these young people deserve good infrastructure to be doing their teaching roles.

We want to build an education system that provides excellence and reduces the impact of disadvantage. We have also invested in doctors in schools, and I hear from young people at some of the schools in Geelong about how significant that is for them. The health and wellbeing programs have been really welcomed by not only students but parents as well and teachers at the schools.

I do want to focus on the school breakfast program, because seeing that breakfast program in action has been absolutely fantastic. Kids come together of a morning to have food in their stomachs, no matter who they are. It makes a huge difference. There is no stigma about having that breakfast. All the kids just pile in. They have a great time enjoying each other’s company and participating often in preparing the food and serving it. They feel that real pride. These are kids from all different backgrounds that are coming together and sharing that food, sharing the opportunity to serve it to each other and to do some cooking, which is really great fun for them, and most of our schools are doing that. Some schools have the students, as I said, prepare and serve the food. We know some schools have a greater number of students from low socio-economic backgrounds. These programs are helping these families considerably.

We also have the school savings bonus, and that $400 has been really significant for so many families in my electorate. I have had nothing but positive feedback from families. The burden that that has taken off those families has been incredibly significant for many. The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund has really made a difference in my community. Kids are not missing out on going on excursions or camps. They have the same opportunity as everyone else. There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing kids missing out on these sorts of things that are being put in their schools. All of these things ‍– the breakfast program, the school bonus, the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund and the school saving bonus – are all playing a significant role in helping families meet their living costs and really providing great opportunities for these students at schools.

We have so many fantastic schools. We have a number of schools that are accepting whatever they can to support those students in their schools. One of our schools in particular has recently been able to move into their new gymnasium that was built as part of their development there. The programs they have been running in that gymnasium have been incredible for those students. There are music programs. There are art programs. There are all sorts of things that they are able to do in there, as well as having somewhere dry and safe during bad weather, which they did not have before. This is all making a big difference for those students at our schools. The programs that are being offered in the schools, as I said, are making a real difference, particularly for young people in our secondary schools.

Yes, they have the breakfast program and they have a number of other programs, but probably most of the feedback I have had from young people in particular has been around the health and wellbeing programs that we are offering in the schools and the difference that they are making for them. We know that things have been challenging for young people, particularly having experienced COVID and the impacts of that – learning from home and all those things that they had to deal with. But having that mental health and wellbeing support in schools has made a real difference for those young people. Many of them are talking very openly now about what they experienced, and they are also very appreciative of the support that they are getting at their school. It makes a difference for teachers who are working with these young people, particularly young people who have challenges, whether they are in their home life or experiences they are having outside of school. The fact that those teachers can provide that support and make sure that they are getting the support that they need is really significant for those young people.

All the things that we are doing in terms of cost-of-living support are making a difference. I know it is making a huge difference in my electorate of Geelong. I know it is making a difference right across the state for all of our schools and for all of our students. When they are lining up to get their school supplies at the beginning of the year and they have $400 sitting there to be able to use, that makes a huge difference for those families – a really significant difference. It is really important that we continue these programs to ensure that we continue good government policy, which makes all the difference for these families.

This motion is really significant. It is outlining all the amazing things that this Labor government has done and will continue to do –

A member interjected.

Chris COUZENS: It’s bougie, yes. It is fantastic. I do commend this motion to the house.

Colin BROOKS (Bundoora – Minister for Industry and Advanced Manufacturing, Minister for Creative Industries) (23:37): I move:

That debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned.

Ordered that debate be adjourned until later this day.