Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Mr SMALL (Forrest) (17:44): There is something seriously wrong with education in our country. Parents tell me that they're worried about the indoctrination of their kids with a woke ideology that conflicts with the very values that those parents are trying to instil in their kids. Local employers tell me that new graduates entering the workforce lack the skills that make someone employable today, let alone being equipped with the skills for the future.

Concerningly, these anecdotes are reflected in the data. One in three students in regional areas, like my seat of Forrest, are failing to meet proficiency levels in literacy and numeracy through NAPLAN testing, and PISA scores in the 2022 edition showed that Australia's international performance finally stopped declining only because education outcomes overseas went backwards.

And yet as a nation we're spending more on education than ever before, to achieve these very poor outcomes. Minister, why do we persist with a national curriculum that demands so-called cross-curriculum priorities be taught alongside the primary subjects, when our students can't read and write reliably at the end of their schooling? Minister, why does Aboriginal history and culture have any place in a maths lesson?

Minister, why does an English lesson prioritise a cross-curriculum priority of sustainability? Too many kids can't read or write, so, surely, common sense would demand greater focus on the basics of learning. But this government continues to prioritise indoctrination over education in our classrooms, and it is shameful.

I have parents in my electorate telling me that schools are permitting students to self-identify as animals, or so-called furries. They are wearing collars, audibly hissing and even scratching at fellow students, even though we see these appalling results in literacy and numeracy outcomes. To me, it is shameful that we are failing to prepare young Australians for a bright and productive future as members of our community whilst allowing those same young Australians to live under the delusion that they're cats.

I'm a 'live and let live' kind of guy, but, surely, indoctrinating young people to accept and perpetuate a blatant lie because another person insists that it is 'their truth' is beyond the pale. Minister, how is this being allowed in our schools and classrooms today, and why can't teachers tell students that they're not cats? Having spent some $16 billion of borrowed money to knock off some HECS debt in a one-off pork-barrel promise that is almost unprecedented in our history—money that tradies, waiters and barbers will need to pay back—we now need the minister to pony up and answer a very simple question: why was this policy such a good idea for a select few just before an election but isn't a good idea for the young Australians completing their final school exams across the country right now?

Why do those kids need to pay full fare for their education when they will have to pay off the debt of their older peers in years to come simply because they had the misfortune to not have racked up any HECS debt just before a federal election? In my view, too many young Australians are being pushed towards tertiary education when they'd be better suited to a vocational career, unlocked by an apprenticeship or a traineeship.

Some of the most successful folks from my year 12 class are those who rolled up their sleeves and, after completing their apprenticeships, went on to build businesses, employ others and even create opportunities for new apprentices themselves. Some went back to tertiary education later in life, with some experience under their belt. We should predicate the Australian education system on what best enables Australians to become their best selves.

Instead, this government is not addressing the disconnect for those regional Australians who choose to complete a traineeship or an apprenticeship. Earlier this year, we saw Labor in WA make cuts to the overnight travel allowance that disproportionately affect regional apprentices. Amid a cost-of-living crisis, does the minister think it's fair that these hardworking young Australians who live regionally are being penalised for their decision to pursue vocational education?

Has the minister addressed this inequality of opportunity for young regional Australians with his state Labor counterpart? It would cost just a fraction of what the minister just shovelled into reducing the HECS debts of tertiary students, who'll potentially earn much higher incomes.