Ms PLIBERSEK (Sydney) (15:18): Just before I turn to the matter of public importance, I also congratulate Catherine Cornish, now joining Claressa Surtees. We have an all-female team in senior positions in the Clerk's office. Congratulations. It really is a historic moment. The matter of public importance today, addressing the failures of this government on education, really is a critical issue for us to confront as a nation. Those opposite are now entering their third term; they're entering their 7th year. They've seen three Prime Ministers. In all of that time, what have we seen? Declining standards, declining achievement, declining investment in our education system, from early childhood education and care through to our schools, TAFE and university—cuts at every stage of our education system. This is set in an economic environment where our economy is growing too slowly and where wages growth is stagnant. Our economic growth is the slowest it's been since the global financial crisis and wages growth is the worst on record. There are about 1.8 million Australians who are unemployed or underemployed, looking for work or looking for more work. Our unemployment rate is much higher than it should be. Business investment is at its lowest level since the 1990s recession, productivity's going backwards and living standards for families are going backwards. A decline in investment and a decline in skills is really supercharging the problems in our economy at the moment. It's translating into record low wages growth and crashing productivity. When it comes to early-childhood education, every expert will tell you how critical those early years are. The first 1,000 days of a child's life are so important to their later success. Ninety per cent of a child's brain development happens before that child turns five—even before they start school. Our experts here in Australia know that; parents certainly know it. Countries around the world are using this information to invest in the early years. The UK has near-universal preschool education for three-year-olds, and has since 2004. In New Zealand that's been the case since 2007. There are legal supports for universal access in Norway, Ireland and France. In South Korea, 75 per cent of three-year-olds attend preschool programs. China is aiming for universal access by 2020, and the number of Chinese three-year-olds in preschool today is greater than the total population of Australia. These countries are investing in the early years because the payoff is there for a child's lifetime. In contrast, in Australia only 57 per cent of three-year-olds are attending some form of early education. What's really troubling about this is that more than one in five of our children are starting school without the foundational skills to be successful early learners. They're starting school developmentally vulnerable. We can change that. Labor had a policy at the last election to expand our very successful universal preschool access for four-year-olds to three-year-olds also. Those opposite, of course, will not guarantee even to fund preschool beyond the end of 2020. When we look at schools we see a similar tale. A report from the OECD last week proves what Labor has been saying all along: education funding is falling in this country. Total government expenditure on schools and non-tertiary postsecondary education has fallen from 10.4 per cent of total government expenditure in 2010 to 8.9 per cent in 2016. The share of our national wealth that we are investing in our children, in our young people and in our workers' retraining and reskilling is actually falling. We saw it first with schools, with Tony Abbott cutting $30 billion from schools when he was Prime Minister and Malcolm Turnbull, when he was Prime Minister, pulling that back to $17 billion, and then the current Prime Minister restoring funding to Catholic and independent schools but retaining $14 billion worth of cuts to our public schools. We saw what early-years needs based funding did for schools like Merrylands High School in Western Sydney, which lifted its HSC results and doubled the number of students going to university, thanks to targeted literacy and numeracy programs, or Eagleby South State School near Logan in Queensland, hiring and training extra reading aides; the year 6 and 7 reading age level went from 50 per cent to 70 per cent. That's what extra investment in schools does. But those opposite are so determined to turn their backs on need in this area that they were prepared to campaign against extra investment in public schools in their electorates. For example, under Labor's policy the schools in Mallee would have been $31.3 million better off; in Calare, $24½ million better off; and in New England, $26.1 million better off. Schools like Horsham College in Mallee would have been $1.6 million better off, Grafton High School $1.3 million better off and Bundaberg State High School $2¼ million better off under Labor's fair funding policies. When it comes to the results that this underinvestment is causing, look at Australia's results going backwards in all the major international studies and in NAPLAN, too. In every domain, in different states, we are seeing results going backwards because of these funding cuts. After billions of dollars cut from vocational education and training and from TAFE, we now have 150,000 fewer apprentices and trainees than when those opposite came to government. We see fewer apprentices and trainees today than when John Howard was Prime Minister. We actually see more apprentices dropping out of apprenticeships than completing them. But we've got skills shortages across the country. The mining industry have again been saying how worried they are about skills shortages emerging in their areas. There are skills shortages right across Australia—motor mechanics, panel beaters, bricklayers, stonemasons, carpenters and joiners, tilers, plumbers, electricians, bakers, pastry cooks, butchers, hairdressers, cabinet-makers, childcare workers—because of the government's failure to invest in vocational education and training. This is a brake on our economy and it is a tragedy for those 1.8 million Australians who are missing out on the chance of a great job. When you lock someone out of education, you are locking that person out of a job. Of course, it's not just early childhood education, it's not just our schools and it's not just vocational education; it's also our universities that are suffering from the billions of dollars of funding cuts from those opposite. We're having a disagreement at the moment. Labor supports extra investment in emergency responses, but not at the cost of a $4 billion cut from our university sector. We've already seen $328.5 million cut from research and $2.2 billion cut when university places were capped. Because of the recapping of university places, 200,000 people will miss out on a university education. What do we know about this fast-changing economy and the fact that the world of work is changing so quickly? We know that our young people need a post-school qualification—be it in TAFE or university. Those entry-level jobs that you could go straight into from year 10 don't exist anymore, and parents know this too. They want that education for their children. I have been travelling around the country and I have met with so many parents who are so concerned about their children's access to a great school education, to TAFE, to university and to the jobs that that educational pathway provides. Those opposite have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the demands of parents, the demands of teachers, the demands of Australians, for a great education for themselves and for the next generation. A great education is the ticket to a lifetime of success and fulfilment for individuals, but it is also the ticket to prosperity for us as a nation. We cannot be a successful and prosperous nation unless we invest properly in our schools.