JULIA GILLARD:
Can I start by saying it’s obviously great to be here today at this school with the Premier of Tasmania and Minister for Education, David Bartlett and with the local member, Julie Collins. You’ve had the opportunity to see the wonderful teaching staff and the children of this school hard at work and obviously enjoying their literacy and numeracy.
And, of course, next week is National Literacy and Numeracy Week. It’s a week where we celebrate the skills of reading and writing and being able to count and do maths. But it’s also a time where we look at where we need extra investments to make a difference, particularly for those students who are at risk of falling behind.
Now this school is one that has been piloting a program that has been making a difference here. And it’s my pleasure to be here today with my colleagues, David and Julie, to announce that the Rudd Labor Government will be investing $4 million in spreading this Program to 11 other schools. This program, which is entitled Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap has already made a difference in some of the most disadvantaged Tasmanian schools. This new investment of $4 million will enable this program, Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap, to go to 11 other Tasmanian schools.
In addition, we are making a further investment of $300,000 in two pilots: one—for the Catholic education sector on numeracy; and one—a pilot program on teacher professional development. So I’m here today to announce a new investment into Tasmanian education of $4.3 million.
This is part of $40 million of pilot programs on literacy and numeracy, benefiting 29 schools around the country. This is a down payment on our more than half a billion dollar plan to get the basics right in literacy and numeracy right across Australian schooling.
It’s also my pleasure today to be here to announce that the Tasmanian Government and the Rudd Labor Government have entered an agreement for the rollout of 458 new Productivity Places. This is the Rudd Labor Government’s plan, to work with our state colleagues, to address the skills crisis, to put new investments into Productivity Places, training places in areas where skills are short. Already 1030 Tasmanians have benefited from the rollout of these places.
We’ve now reached agreement to rollout 458 new places in areas where skills are short in this state and where people need training to make sure that they can get the opportunities in this economy and to make sure businesses in this economy can get the skilled workers that they need.
I’ll hand over to David.
DAVID BARTLETT:
Thank you. Well, can I just say that I, of course, I welcome this extra Australian Government money coming to our Raise the Bar and Close the Gap program. As you are all aware, that program is funded in this year’s state Budget to the tune of $32 million, addressing literacy challenges that we have on a needs-based funding formula. And I am very proud and pleased that the Australian Government has recognised the excellence of that program and will enable us to extend it to more schools and therefore, more children in Tasmania who are having challenges meeting the national benchmarks that we want them to.
I welcome the approach by the Australian Government that has recently been announced by Kevin Rudd to focus on teacher quality, on better reporting to parents and on needs-based funding because, as you know, these are the three things that I have been focused on here in Tasmania for the last two years. And it’s terrific to finally have an Australian Government that wants to work with us and not just walk with a big stick, but actually bring money to the table and resources to the table that are going to make a real difference in Tasmanian lives.
I welcome the reforms that the Rudd Government, under Julia’s leadership, have announced. I will be working very closely with the Deputy Prime Minister on implementing these reforms and in fact, I believe we are already well down the track in Tasmania in their implementation. What, of course, I’ll be saying around the ministerial table with the Deputy Prime Minister is therefore funding needs to flow in Tasmania to ensure that these reforms really make a difference for the long term. And I welcome this fantastic $4.3 million down payment on that extra resourcing for Tasmanian schools.
JOURNALIST:
Ms Gillard, are you also here to sell those reforms and how do you think you’ll go? You’ve probably heard some of the comments from the unions.
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, we’ll be selling these reforms each and every day because we believe in them. And we’ll be talking to our state colleagues, including Premier Bartlett about their implementation. But these are reforms that no one should fear if they care about the quality of education in every Australian school. We know that there are too many school students who get left behind, who don’t come out of school with the skills need for the rest of their lives. And I think every Australian believes that every Aussie kid should get a fair chance in life and a good start.
To do that, we’ve got to lift the standard of schooling. We’re standing ready with new resources to invest in the schools that need our assistance the most, to invest in teacher quality, and to make sure that every member of the public—parents, members of the public who are concerned, governments at state and federal level know exactly what is going on in schools and where extra assistance is needed.
JOURNALIST:
This idea of being able to compare other schools—where in the world is that being done now that’s working? I mean, for example, Finland’s often given as an example of a good system. They don’t compare schools. Are we going off in the dark on our own here with this idea?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well moves towards increased transparency have been implemented in other parts of the world. I’ve recently had the opportunity to visit New York and I’ve talked about the model there, led by Joel Klein.
And of course you don’t pick up the model from overseas and say, ‘That’ll do for Australia.’ You’ve always got to work out a unique Australian model that suits our conditions.
But what that program from overseas shows, in New York, is if you measure and identify where additional assistance is required, then you can make a difference. And I think people would know just from watching TV as much as anything else—New York is a very different place to his country but it’s a city that has pockets of enormous wealth and pockets of very great disadvantage. And in New York they have made a difference to those pockets of very great disadvantage.
JOURNALIST:
What do you say to fears that schools in low socioeconomic areas may suffer a … I suppose a stigma when it comes to something like this?
JULIA GILLARD:
I don’t think that you can ever resolve a problem by closing your eyes and pretending that it’s not there. You’ve always got to be able to squarely look the truth in the face. And this isn’t about naming and shaming and it’s not about blaming schools or blaming teachers or anyone else. It’s about saying, ‘Where do we need to make a difference? Where are the schools that need extra assistance?’ And it’s about watching how schools succeed.
If we saw two very similar schools and one was just streaking ahead, then you’d obviously say, ‘What’s going on in that school that makes a difference and what can other schools learn from that best practice?’ So it’s about sharing the best and it’s about making sure that for those schools that need extra assistance, they get it.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think Tasmania might receive more than this $4.3 million down payment as the Premier has called it?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, certainly I can envisage that there will be lots of—as the Prime Minister would say, ‘argy bargy’ to come as we close out on these negotiations in December. But can I welcome the fact that Premier Bartlett has endorsed the direction of the Rudd Labor Government. I can understand that he is very assertively going to put the funding case for his state to make sure that Tasmania gets its fair share. That’s to be expected and no doubt, by Tasmanians it’s going to be welcomed—and we’ll have those conversations about the funding.
But we want to make a difference here in Tasmania for the students and schools that most need it. We want to make a difference on teacher quality right around the country as well as here in Tasmania, and we’ll look forward to those negotiations. I know they’re going to be friendly but they’re going to be frank, and we’ll get to an outcome in December.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Bartlett’s welcome them but there does seem to be a bit of disquiet in your own backbenches in Canberra on the education and the welfare reforms. Are you concerned that the Labor Government might seem a bit more punitive in some areas than the Howard Government even perhaps?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, people come to Canberra elected as Labor Members because they’re full of ideas and full of enthusiasm. And consequently, we expect of course that people who are elected to represent communities come to our various meetings of the Labor Party full of things to say about what their community wants and what they think should be done in the interests of the nation. All of those conversations will continue. But the Rudd Labor Government has made it clear, through the Prime Minister’s address on Wednesday that we are absolutely committed to a new era of school transparency, to new investments in schools that need those investments the most and to investments across the board in teacher quality.
JOURNALIST:
How long will it be, do you think before this funding you’ve announced today shows measurable results?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, as I understand the research from Tasmania and the Premier may want to comment on this. The program that we are enabling to be spread on another 11 schools has actually shown results. The Raising the Bar, Closing the Gap program is making a difference and because it’s making a difference we obviously want to see more students benefit from it. It is being viewed as a pilot program. We’re always researching to see what are the best ways of making sure Australian kids end up literate and numerate and ready to face the challenges of high school and the world beyond.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister … just one more. Prime Minister Howard obviously led what was considered an economically conservative government. Are we seeing the Labor Government is moving towards one that is socially conservative in all of these areas that we’re talking about?
JULIA GILLARD:
I must admit in the modern age I’m never sure whether these labels have got that much meaning and often they’re invested with a lot of baggage that people put on them. Seems to me, it’s a core Labor belief that education is fundamental to our society, it’s fundamental to our economy. But I think the special perspective that Labor brings is we believe education is fundamental to changing lives. And it’s a great part of the Labor tradition to say: No matter how humble a child’s circumstances, no matter how impoverished their home, they should be able to go to a great school and have a great education. That’s a fundamental force for social equity—something I’ve always believed in and something I would say that’s been in the mainstream of Labor’s tradition for as long as we’ve been a political party.
How you achieve that? You’ve always got to be thinking, you’ve always got to be developing new policies, you’ve got to be working the best way forward and that’s what we’re doing now. And we’re determined to see that equity achieved through a new era of transparency, new investments in the schools that need it the most and new era of teacher quality.
Thank you very much.
ENDS