Statutes Amendment (Education, Training and Skills Portfolio) Bill – Second Reading speech

Tuesday 21 March 2023 

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (12:32): I rise to speak on the Statues Amendment (Education, Training and Skills Portfolio) Bill. I am proud to speak on this bill, because there are few things more important than ensuring our children receive a quality education, whether that be at preschool, school, TAFE or university. We know that across the world, this is not an opportunity that is available to all children and young people, especially girls. UNESCO informs us that two-thirds of the illiterate adults in the world are women. 

On this point, I would like to acknowledge the work of one of my own constituents, Julia Gillard AC, whose work has been to improve educational opportunities for women on the global stage, including serving as Commissioner at the International Commission for Global Education Opportunity and as patron of the campaign for female education. 

Our government values the importance of education and our educators, and has acted swiftly but responsibly since we have come to government to improve public education in South Australia. This bill is no different. We all know that you cannot benefit from quality education if you cannot attend. This bill proposes to amend section 75(2a) of the Education and Children's Services Act 2019. The aim is to provide clarity that a head of an approved learning program has an obligation, along with principals, to notify the education department's chief executive of persistent non-attendance or non-participation. 

Our students in South Australia are lucky to have the opportunity to participate in learning beyond the school classroom at TAFE or at university; however, this is not an opportunity for students to not attend. All students must respect this opportunity. 

I support this amendment and highlight that tackling truancy is an important priority of the Malinauskas Labor government. We know how important it is that children and young people go to school. Poor attendance is related quite often to poor student outcomes, especially once patterns of non-attendance are established. We want every child to be going to school regularly. 

Since coming to government we have started important work to reduce non-attendance, including funding 100 full-time equivalent mental health and learning support staff to support students and prevent them from missing school due to reasons such as mental health, one of the biggest barriers for children attending school, as well as increasing the number of staff working for the Social Work Duty Line, which assists schools to address wellbeing and attendance issues. 

We are also providing access to an autism inclusion teacher in every public primary school to make schools more inclusive and welcoming places where students feel safe to attend. Every student has the right to feel safe and supported in their school environment, which is why our government is banning mobile phones in schools to reduce the incidence of bullying and screen addiction in school time. We know that we have already seen positive results from that change in the schools that have so early adopted this policy change, with students becoming more engaged with each other. 

I thank the education department for their work with families who engage in persistent truancy and are not valuing their children’s education. Pleasingly, the threat of prosecution has seen a number of families now sending their children to school after prolonged periods. However, it should not get to this stage, and as a community I do remind everyone that we have a responsibility, if we believe children are being denied an education, to report it. 

The next amendment will not affect most South Australians but is an example of our government being progressive. Many members would be aware that many international students attend our TAFE and universities but may not know that around 1,500 international students attend our public preschools and schools. 

This bill proposes to amend section 130 of the Education and Children’s Services Act 2019 to provide the chief executive of the education department with the discretion to waive, reduce or refund a charge, allow it to be paid in instalments or require a person to give security of payment of a charge under section 130. 

This change relates to full fee paying overseas students, students enrolled in schools who are not residents in the state and children enrolled in schools who are dependants of a person who is the subject of a visa of a kind prescribed by the regulations. This change will move from it being the principal with the power to the department. The change reflects that practical administration lies with the education department so it makes sense to align the legislation with this practice. 

In recent times, our compassionate government has waived the school fees of Afghan evacuees and Ukrainian refugees to support these families in their time of need, demonstrating our humanity and why South Australia is such a good place to reside. 

If we are going to have quality education, we do need standards. Therefore, the Malinauskas Labor government strongly supports the Education Standards Board, which is responsible for the regulation of early childhood services and schools and is key to ensuring an education system of the highest quality. 

This bill supports a more efficient and effective board by amending section 22 of the Education and Early Childhood Services (Registration and Standards) Act 2011 to allow a deputy member of the Education Standards Board to fill a vacancy in the office of the member for whom they are a deputy. Currently, if a vacancy falls before the current term of the appointment ends, the deputy member cannot act in the place of the member. This is a sensible change that I fully endorse. 

If we do not know where we have come from, we cannot fully embrace the future, so it is important that we continue our support for the History Trust of South Australia, an agency of this government. The History Trust plays a vital role in South Australia, and part of that role is managing the important Migration Museum, one of my daughter's favourites as a child; the National Motor Museum, one of my brother's favourites; the South Australian Maritime Museum, one of my son's favourites as a child; as well as The Centre of Democracy. If members have not visited for a while, I would encourage them to go out and visit these museums. 

The proposed amendment in this bill will change section 2 to broaden the definition of a premises to include premises used by the trust to conduct activities and events. This is an important change for the History Trust, for them to have the power to deal with any inappropriate behaviour and manage parking and bringing animals to events. It also helps with preventing the reproduction of exhibits. These changes are important so the History Trust can ensure the safety of everyone at their events and, additionally, protect exhibitions and our history. I commend this bill to the house.