Mr TEHAN (Wannon—Minister for Education) (15:28): I must say that I have a tiny bit of empathy for the member for Sydney, because every policy that she took to the last election—every single one of them—is now on the table. There is not one that she can currently stand by. Every single policy is on the table. It would be very hard to get up with energy and enthusiasm and really get behind what you're saying when everything that you took to the election is on the table, including the $387 billion worth of new taxes that were going to underpin what you were doing. So I do have some empathy for you, Member for Sydney. But I do have to point out a few things. One is that we have record funding when it comes to child care, we have record funding when it comes to preschool, we have record funding when it comes to schools and we have record funding when it comes to higher education. So let's be very, very clear. What we've got to focus on now is making sure that we're getting the right outcomes from that record funding, and that is what the government is doing. Let's start with child care. We've paid more than $7 billion in subsidies to more than 1.1 million families to support the childcare needs of 1.6 million children since our childcare reforms came into place—the most major childcare reforms that this country has seen in decades. The latest child care consumer price index figures from the ABS indicate that, across Australia, out-of-pocket costs for families are 7.9 per cent lower than their peak in the June quarter of 2018. That is a 7.9 per cent reduction in out-of-pocket costs for families. With the legislation we have brought into the House today, what we are also doing is making sure that the regulations continue to diminish, so that the system works even better. When it comes to preschool, once again there is record funding: $890 million over 2019 and 2020. Since we were elected, $2.8 billion has been provided for preschool. What we are doing now is making sure that when it comes to preschool those who need it most are going to get it. We know that those from Indigenous backgrounds, those from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those from rural and remote areas aren't attending preschool like their city cousins. We want to make sure that the record investment we are putting into preschool will deliver results for those groups. That is what we are focusing on. That is why we have asked The Smith Family to work with us to tell us what we need to do to get that attendance up. We understand that if we can get attendance up in those areas that is where we will get the greatest return on our investment. We will continue to ensure that the money we are providing for preschool gets results right across our nation. When it comes to schools, what we have achieved is something the Labor Party could never have achieved. We have guaranteed record funding to every school, on the basis of student need. We have done this through agreements with every single state and territory. Not only that, over the next decade we are providing record funding to schools, which has been provided without having to put $387 billion of new taxes in place. That is an extra $37 billion for schools compared to the 2016 budget settings. Importantly, it is a 62 per cent increase in per-student funding on average. As well as that, as members on this side know, we also have our $200,000 Local Schools Community Fund. I know members are out actively going to their government and non-government schools and asking how they can help them with the local projects that they need at their schools. Then we move on to higher education. Here, once again, the government is providing record funding for universities. Funding for universities has grown by nearly 19 per cent, around $2.8 billion, since we were elected, and will grow by nearly 29 per cent, around $4.3 billion, through to 2022. Funding for universities is at a record $17.7 billion in 2019 and will grow to $19.1 billion by 2022. Once again, when it comes to universities we want to make sure that the system is financially sustainable into the future. That is why we have put in place performance based funding. We want the focus for universities to be on producing job-ready graduates. If they do that we have said that we will increase their funding and do it for the performance that they do in getting job-ready graduates. We have also said that one of the things universities need to be very focused on is making sure that, when students decide to embark on a degree, universities do everything they can to make sure that the level of attainment is there, that the level of completion is there. So, we are working with universities to incentivise that when students start their degree they complete their degree. We are also working with universities to make sure that those students who come from low socioeconomic areas, Indigenous students and rural and remote students are a focus in ensuring that we can lift the level of attainment from those students who grow up in rural and remote Australia, versus those who grow up in our capital cities. We all know that if you're born in Alice Springs then the chance that you will attain a higher degree is less than 22 per cent. If you're born in Melbourne or Sydney, it's as high as 44 per cent. We have to reduce that gap, for the good of our nation, and that is what we are working with the university sector to do. We've also had the Napthine report delivered, and the Napthine report is making sure that we get better attainment rates for regional and rural students and also that we get better outcomes for rural universities. There is a list of recommendations there that we'll also be working through with the sector to make sure that we get the right policies in place to absolutely endeavour to make sure that regional and rural communities also have all the benefits that higher education brings to this nation. Although it's not my portfolio, I know that the minister responsible for vocational education, Michaelia Cash, would say it was remiss of me if I didn't mention what our record is in this space. Our record compares very well with that of those opposite. We are putting in place 80,000 new apprenticeships. And who can tell me this: under which government was there the greatest drop in apprenticeships and traineeships? When do you think it was? It was 2012-13. That biggest drop—that record drop—how many? Would it have been 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 or maybe 80,000? We have committed to put in place 80,000 new traineeships and apprenticeships. The record of those opposite is that when they were last in office there was the biggest drop in apprenticeships and traineeships, by 80,000. What we have on this side is record funding for child care—the biggest reforms in child care that this nation has seen in decades. We've seen record funding for preschool, plus a focus on making sure that that investment benefits those from Indigenous, rural and remote backgrounds, those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. We have the biggest funding in schools, both primary and secondary, and are making sure that it is needs based funding—something that those opposite could never, ever achieve. Opposition members interjecting— Mr TEHAN: I know it hurts, but we were able to deliver needs based funding on this side. What we've got is major investments going into the higher education sector, major investment going into research, which is going to deliver better outcomes for everyone who attends university. Also, we've got sensible investment into vocational education, which is going to deliver 80,000 new apprenticeships. That compares and contrasts with those opposite, who had the single-biggest fall when it came to trainees and apprenticeships. Our record is an impeccable one.