Joanne Ryan
Lalor · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“I understand how difficult it is for those opposite. Having voted in support of this legislation, they've seen their vote overturned by their Senate colleagues. I understand that they're disappointed.”
“It's a four-page document that does two clear things. It gives the eSafety Commissioner something she has asked for. She has asked for a law that will allow her to compel documents in her investigation as to why big tech companies are not complying with the laws set by this country, set by this House and the other place.”
“These silos create delays and delays can mean claims held up, care interrupted, families unsupported and risks unseen. The failure this bill confronts is not a lack of courage from those who served but a lack of connection in the systems built to support them.”
“The Albanese government agreed or agreed in principle to 104 recommendations, and, significantly, this bill implements 15 recommendations and supports a further 20.”
“Schedule 1 of this bill strengthens information sharing to improve wellbeing, health and safety outcomes for Defence members and to limit the risk. The royal commission found that defence and veterans systems hold critical information but that information has too often been fragmented, delayed or unavailable when needed.”
“It is 1 July today, and that means pay rises for three million workers around this country and tax cuts for all Australian workers. This is good news for my community. And you know what else is good news in my community?”
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“I know, when I coach under-16s playing netball, that I need to set targets around the number of intercepts I want to see from the goal defence and the shooting accuracy I want to see from the goal shooter. I know that in my classroom I need to say to a student: 'You're capable of an A+ on this exam, and together we're going to get an A+ on this exam.' If you don't set targets, you don't reach them. I stand here proudly, as a woman in the federal Labor government, to say that this tradition of setting targets and working hard to meet them delivers a budget with gender equity at its core. At the core of the five budget's handed down by the Albanese Labor government, Australian women have been a clear focus.”
“I stand here proudly as the member for Lalor, sent here by my community to represent them—all of them. I stand here as a proud member of the Labor government, the Labor Party and the labour movement. It's a movement that is dedicated to equality and fairness, a movement that wants to see equity for all Australians, and gender equity is at the core of that. I know, from my years as a teacher, from my years as a principal and from my years of playing sport, that we measure the things that will help us get better, the things that we think are important, and that's why the Women's Budget Statement is so important and the bedrock of a Labor federal government. We know that, if we don't measure the road to gender equity, we'll fall off the road to gender equity.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Why is Australia's relationship with India, and the contribution of the Indian community, so important to our nation? How is the Albanese Labor government engaging with our Indian diaspora?”
“I declare that Federation Chamber order of the day No. 4, government business, Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026, stands returned to the House for further consideration.”
“I declare that, unless otherwise ordered, the following bills stand referred to the Federation Chamber for further consideration: Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2026-2027, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2026-2027 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2026-2027, immediately; and Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026, at the adjournment of the debate on the motion for the second reading of the bill.”
“More than 8,000 women with endometriosis have already benefited from cheaper treatment options that previously placed major financial pressure on women and families. This matters in my electorate. We're also making Medicare work better for women, with improved specialist access, longer consultations for complex issues and greater support for gynaecological care. This is a government that cares about women's health, that is delivering for women's health.”
“The initial network of clinics had already supported more than 10,000 women and girls and delivered more than 28,000 services for endometriosis and persistent pelvic pain conditions, but this work goes beyond clinics. We're supporting updated evidence-based clinical guidelines. We're developing an endometriosis management plan to better support patients and healthcare providers. We continue to fund EndoZone, a digital platform providing information, resources, symptom tracking and access to the latest research, and we are making health care more affordable. Since introducing the Labor women's healthcare package, more than 800,000 women have accessed over three million cheaper PBS prescriptions covering contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments.”
“We've delivered an additional 11 clinics, taking the national network to 33 across Australia, improving access in both metropolitan and regional communities. Every primary health network region now has access to these services. Importantly for women in Melbourne's west, one of those clinics is in Werribee. That matters. It matters because, for women like Alana, access matters, being listened to matters, having healthcare professionals who understand pelvic pain matters, and having multidisciplinary care and a pathway to diagnosis matters. These clinics were established to improve access to timely care for people experiencing endometriosis and persistent pelvic pain, because women deserve better than being told to simply put up with pain, and we are already seeing the results.”
“Chronic pelvic pain has devastating impacts not only on individuals and families but on our economy too, costing Australia an estimated $6 billion every year. For too long, women were denied the support they deserve, and that is why Labor's investment in women's health matters and why Labor delivering for women's health absolutely matters in communities across the country. Labor's women's health package, worth nearly $800 million, is delivering more choice, lower costs and better health care for women and girls across Australia. Importantly, we're building something that did not previously exist: an Australia-wide support system for women experiencing endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain.”
“Imagine being told, when you just missed a week of work because of that pain, that this would happen regularly and often, that your capacity to earn for your family would be diminished and that your pain would be ignored. I want to thank Alana for sharing her story with me and the Prime Minister when he visited the Werribee Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinic in February. Endometriosis affects at least one in seven Australian women. It can cause chronic pain and fertility challenges and have profound impacts on education, employment, relationships and everyday life. Women wait, on average, around seven years for a diagnosis. That's seven years of uncertainty, seven years of pain, seven years of feeling unheard.”
“I'm moving this motion today because, for too long, women experiencing chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis have been dismissed, overlooked or told that what they are experiencing is somewhat normal. In my community one local woman, Alana, knows exactly what that feels like. For years, Alana experienced debilitating pelvic pain—pain that affected her quality of life, pain that disrupted her daily routine, pain that should have been taken seriously. Instead of answers, support and a pathway to diagnosis, Alana was told something many women hear far too often: just take a Panadol. Imagine hearing that while living with chronic pain. Imagine being told to push through it, to wait, to accept it. Alana's story is deeply personal, but it is not unique.”
“I move: That this House: (1) acknowledges the opening of an additional 11 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics across Australia, with all 33 clinics now open, supporting women and girls; and (2) notes these clinics: (a) are delivering a key part of the Government's landmark Women's Health Package, which is investing almost $800 million to deliver improved health care and access for women and girls; (b) provide expert, multidisciplinary care for women and girls living with endometriosis and pelvic pain as well as perimenopause and menopause care; and (c) have already provided care for over 10,000 Australian women and girls, with more than 28,000 services to those with endometriosis and persistent pelvic pain conditions.”
“Together we honoured the courage, sacrifice and service of ADF personnel across the generations. Their sacrifice continues to shape our national identity and is reflected thoughtfully in my community. It was a privilege to lay a wreath alongside the state member for Werribee, John Lister, and the state member for Tarneit, Dylan Wight. I thank the Werribee RSL and all those who attended for organising a moving and respectful service.”
“It was wonderful to see the students so engaged—over 100 grade 5s, all desperately seeking to ask thoughtful questions about how our parliament works and how this impacts their community. Following the session, staff and students gathered to unfurl a giant Australian flag which of course has flown above Parliament House, before proudly singing both verses of the Australian national anthem. I would like to thank Principal Nadia Bettio, the staff and the students at Tarneit Rise Primary School for their warm welcome and for hosting us at their beautiful school, and I give special thanks to Speaker Milton Dick for taking the road show down south to Victoria. On Anzac Day I was honoured to join the Werribee RSL and thousands of locals at the Anzac dawn service at the Werribee cenotaph.”
“We heard directly from Lalor's Pacific community about their experiences, challenges and perspectives, helping strengthen connections between diaspora communities and the Pacific region. I want to thank the school community, Principal David Smillie, Deputy Principal Meredith Clencie and all who attended for the important conversations about inclusion, representation and connection across the Pacific community in Lalor. On Thursday 7 May, I welcomed the Speaker to Tarneit Rise Primary School in my electorate. He delivered the Parliament in Schools program, where students had the opportunity to learn more about democracy, the role of the Speaker in parliament and my role as their local member and Chief Government Whip.”
“On 28 April, I had the pleasure of attending a Pacific community roundtable hosted by the Grange P-12 College in my electorate, alongside the Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs, Senator Nita Green, and Tonga's Minister for Internal Affairs, including the PALM scheme, the Hon. Fane Fotu Fituafe. Grange P-12 College was an important place for this conversation, with the school being home to one of the largest Pacific student cohorts in Victoria and an exemplar. The roundtable brought together community members from local churches, local rugby clubs and not-for-profit initiatives, families from across the electorate and community leaders to discuss the issues impacting Pacific diaspora communities, including experiences connected to the PALM scheme.”
“My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Can the minister provide an update on what steps the Albanese government is taking to protect Australians and support passengers affected by the hantavirus outbreak?”
“We've also already delivered rent relief to those doing it tough, with 12,450 people in Lalor accessing Commonwealth rent assistance. This budget builds on those policies to level the playing field for first home buyers. We're reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax so that young families, like those in my community, don't have to give up on their dream of owning their own home. These reforms make our tax system fairer for those looking to buy their first home now and into future generations. We know these decisions are ambitious, but they are absolutely the right thing to do.”
“On the international front, we're building a more resilient economy by securing more fuel for our nation. In this uncertain world, we're preparing Australia for what comes next. We're buying more fuel and refining more fuel at home so we're not as dependent on what happens overseas, and we're keeping more fuel here by requiring gas companies to reserve 20 per cent of their exports for Australia. Labor is focused on helping Australians at home, and I know this will make a significant difference in my community. On the housing front, the Albanese Labor government's five per cent deposit scheme has already helped 5,764 locals in Lalor buy their first home. We know it's taken years off the time it takes to save, and provided them with stability and a roof over their heads.”
“Budgets are about priorities, and the budget delivered last night reflects the priorities of this Labor government. Helping with the cost of living is our No. 1 priority, and that's what we delivered yesterday. We know people are doing it tough, and this budget has taken the next steps to ease pressure. It is responsible, it's ambitious and it is strong. We're delivering more tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer from 1 July this year. This is on top of an extra $250 off working Australians' tax bills permanently, and a $1,000 instant tax deduction. The average worker will benefit by nearly $3,000. In hardworking communities like mine, this budget delivers cheaper medicines, more bulk-billing, cuts to student debt, permanent fee-free TAFE and cheaper child care. Those policies are designed to deliver healthy, long-term outcomes.”
“He does this despite losing the support of the councillors who voted to make him mayor and have unanimously called for him to resign and unanimously supported a no-confidence motion. It is untenable for them to work with him as mayor. This has, in fact, seen one councillor resign. Despite community concern being expressed through petitions and protests, he insists that he is a victim of politically motivated attacks. This is ridiculous. His initial grievous lack of judgement is now compounded by his incapacity to understand the message his reference sends to our community about sickening, sustained criminal behaviour being trivialised. It is further compounded by his failure to see the damage he continues to cause. He should resign as mayor today.”
“I was here in parliament on 1 April when news broke that Councillor Preet Singh had stepped aside as mayor of Wyndham City Council because in 2024 he had written a character reference for Kashyap Patel, who was convicted of grooming and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, and signed it as a Justice of the Peace. I was pleased that he had stepped aside and acknowledged his error, and I assumed he would resign as mayor after further reflection. I rise today at the first opportunity because after five weeks he has not resigned as mayor, and there is, disappointingly, yet another story in the Melbourne press about the city I love, the people I represent in this place and the mayor who refuses to resign.”
“To all members of this House: I think it's incredibly important that we all work together to make sure we get the best outcomes for people all the way along the breadth and length of this country, from the regions to the suburbs and the outer suburbs, like places I represent. We need to make sure that we stay aware of the specific and individualised needs of those communities and make sure that they're taken into consideration when we're making decisions.”
“Just go down and get on that train. That's going to give some more cost-of-living relief where it matters. Again, national leadership was shown by National Cabinet in terms of the measures that are going to be taken around the GST windfall provision so that state governments aren't going to get more GST money in as a windfall. They're going to work with the Treasurer to make sure that that money stays in the system rather than be taken out of the system. I think that one's really important. On a whole, to my community: keep the emails coming, and let us know how we might help. There are some pretty intelligent people at all levels of government, and, if all levels of government are working together, we'll be in a better place.”
“I think that probably the strongest message I can give to my community is that the government are working hard every day and are trying to get things right and put them in place to give surety in an incredibly unpredictable time. No-one's got a crystal ball here. We can't predict what is going to happen with any surety. It's not the way anybody wants to govern. It's not the way any community wants to live, but it's our actual reality right now. Let's stay in touch with one another, stay connected and start to work together with one another—with our neighbours and community. I want to give a shout-out to the Victorian state government for the free public transport for this month, because I think it's already giving some security to people at home that they don't need their Myki at the moment to travel on a train in Victoria.”
“We've got fuel coming in, but we did make the decision that fuel would go to the regions we knew needed it most because of an increase in demand but also because of things like New South Wales farmers having to plant. They need the diesel to make sure that that can happen while it's planting season, which is right now. The decisions that are being made are not being made recklessly or without thought. We're being thoughtful. But the important piece here is that those decisions must be informed by what Australians know and what Australians need. As I've heard our frontbenchers say at the dispatch box all week—and I look to members opposite—if your communities have information that the government needs and that would inform government actions, then we need to hear about that as well.”
“As we hear in question time every day when the Minister for Climate Change and Energy gives us figures and numbers in response to our questions or those opposites' questions or when he's appearing on televisions in the morning, there is more demand. As people start to think, 'I'm going to need fuel next week,' we need to see people doing the right thing. We need to see people supporting one another as we do in times of crisis. We need to see that every day. We need it in my community. If you know that a neighbour catches the same train as you do, then knock on their door and offer to carpool to the station. Those are the sorts of things that will assist and will reduce the demand.”
“It's obviously really complex, but it's basically about the fact that Australian companies reaching out to contract to bring fuel into the country will be facing varying prices in the spot market, and this is a way that government can support them to underwrite or guarantee, if you like, that they can afford the shock if there's a rapid price drop. So it's us supporting companies to support Australians. We're empowering the ACCC to crack down on misconduct, including doubling the penalties to up to $100 million fines for anybody caught price gouging the Australian public, and working with the ACCC to authorise major suppliers to get fuel where it's needed in the regions and ramp up fuel price monitoring. I think that's an important point to make, too, and I think it's important for people at home to understand that.”
“We're temporarily reducing the sulphur content standards to ensure more fuel can be sold here in Australia, and we're providing more support to our domestic refineries. And, of course, we can't go past this fact. I am a Melbourne western suburbs MP and I stood in front of the Mobil gates when Mobil announced that they were closing the Altona refinery. I mourned that day because I knew what that meant to so many families and to so many workers—and generations of workers—at Mobil who live in my electorate. We are now bearing the costs for a lack of action from the previous government, where we have only two refineries operating in this country now because four closed under the previous government. We're providing more certainty to the private sector by underwriting fuel imports where appropriate. This is really important.”
“Most servos are sitting at 259.9c at the moment. I'm putting that out there now. What I'm saying is that that's today's prices. Keep an eye on that locally and make sure that you're communicating with us. I think it's really important that people understand that we do understand what people are going through. We know that these price shocks will be running through household budgets. We know that that will be impacting on local communities. Of course we know, because it's impacting on the people we know and love as well as it is on the people that we represent. We have added hundreds of millions of litres of diesel and petrol by releasing some of our minimum stock obligations.”
“I also want to pay homage to the other things that we've done this week that have ensured supply, ensured that the cargo ships with crude oil and fuel continue to come to Australia. I want to pay homage to the foreign minister, the minister for energy and the whole leadership team for the way they are working with our neighbours and our trading partners to ensure that we continue to get the supply into this country. Australians should not be punished for something happening in the Middle East. But, by the same token, this is global and, as a country, we can only respond. It's important how we respond. This legislation is one of the things that demonstrates the way this government will respond. The cheapest fuel I can find in my local community is $2.51 per litre, ranging to $2.61.9 as the most expensive.”
“My first question yesterday on receipt of that email was: is there a way that we can transfer this person's health treatment to somewhere closer and is there a way that I can reach out to the state member and get him working with Mercy Health and Western Health to see if we can't move something from Sunshine or Monash to somewhere closer in Werribee or Altona? That would be something that we would look to do. If it's my community, I need to know. We can't help if we don't know. So please get those emails coming in. Also the best people in the world to do price watch are our local communities. So let us know if you see something unusual happening out there because the Treasurer wants to know and I want to be the first person to tell the Treasurer so that we can make sure people aren't being ripped off.”
“There's concern that, driving a diesel vehicle, he won't be able to afford those trips and therefore might miss medical appointments that are across the other side of Melbourne at times. We need to know those things. I need to be able to carry that story into this place to make sure that we're focused on the right things and, really importantly, to make sure that my office and I can work with state government member offices, state governments and local governments and be helpful where we can.”
“We don't want people to get out of their car and go in and abuse someone working at a service station because the price hasn't dropped yet. There's a flow-through time to this. But, by the same token, we do want to know what's happening out there. We do want to know if people are putting prices up that the public think are above and beyond what we should be seeing or if one company's putting prices up in an extraordinary way. We do want to know. We do want to know the impact that this is having on our families and on our communities, and I would encourage my community to let us know. I received an email yesterday, while sitting here in question time, from a community member that relayed a story about a member of my community who is travelling a long way for health treatments.”
“That's why it's also really important that the National Cabinet are involved here and that states and the federal government are working together. I think it's really important to see the three levels of government working together to support Australians through this. Unlike those opposite, we know there is no answer to the question of when the disruption from the Middle East conflict is going to end. We don't know that, and we can't predict that. What we can do is plan to do our best and plan to support Australians as best we can as a government. That's exactly what we're doing this week, and that's exactly what we're doing in this bill. This will give some comfort around price. There'll be a saving at the bowser. As I heard the minister for energy say this morning, we're also very concerned.”
“These people are likely to be working often in transport and logistics, where I know these issues are having an impact every day. I want to pay tribute to the leadership of this government for the measures that they've put in place across this week and for the way they have responded—not in a reactive way but in a thoughtful way. I want the people in my community to know that, as a government, this government has your back. We have your back on this. You can rely on the fact that this government is listening and understanding the pressures that you're under, but also that we won't react; we will think in measured ways about how we can act to support you. I think it's critical at the moment that everybody understands that that's what's happening here.”
“I give a nod to those opposite for the contortions that they've had to do today in terms of claiming that the government's responding to their calls for this, while, in the same breath, saying it's the wrong thing to do. I'm very confused when I listen to those opposite. I hear from them that it needs offsets, but I never hear what they want to cut in those offsets. In my community—and particularly in communities across the country that, like mine, are represented on this side of the House more often than not—people travel long distances for work and are already shopping for cheaper fuel to make it possible for them to get to and from work and still meet their commitments as a family. It's often two people who are doing that.”
“We will also reduce the heavy vehicle road user charge to zero for those same three months. This decision will save trucking operators 32.4c per litre in total, which is about $130 on a 400-litre tank. This is really important. We've also deferred, in this legislation, the six per cent increase in the road user charge. These measures are here to reduce pressure on our road users. Whether road users are filling a car, a ute, a truck or a bus—whatever they're using fuel for—these measures are here to create some wriggle room, some relief, on the price of petrol, in response to what's happening in the Middle East. I think they're really important measures.”
“I rise today to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026. I relish the opportunity to support this bill and the actions of this government at this time in response to the war in the Middle East and the implications that it's having across the globe and to share with the House how that's impacting my local community. This legislation gives effect to the announcement on Monday 30 March by the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government that we will halve fuel excise—a reduction of 26c per litre—on petrol and diesel for three months from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026. This will reduce the cost of a 65-litre tank of fuel by nearly $19.”
“I know that most Australians believe that our universal health system and our universal education system are the most important aspects of our egalitarian society, worth defending in every suburb, in every country town and in this place every day.”
“The reforms are key in achieving the Labor government's tertiary education target, ensuring that 80 per cent of the workforce have a university degree or TAFE qualification by 2050, because that's what this country needs us to do. The reforms will increase transparency for taxpayer funds and their distribution into bettering the education system. We're going to support our teachers to do the things that they and we as a government know will make a difference in our classrooms. We're going to support school leaders to do that work. We're going to support every school in the country to do the best by our students. But, most importantly, we have we are righting a wrong—a wrong done under the previous government—that baked class systems into our education system, something that I know most Australians would never, ever want to see.”
“We're going to reduce the proportion of students in the 'needs additional support' NAPLAN category for reading and numeracy by 10 per cent and increase those in the 'strong' and 'exceeding' categories by 10 per cent by 2030. Again, that's a real, hard, fast target. We're setting a target to raise the student attendance rate to pre-COVID levels, up from 88.6 per cent in 2023. The target is to get that to 91.4 per cent. The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is truly an Australian effort. It comes together with the contribution of different levels of government, First Nations education representatives and independent education bodies.”
“We have committed to increasing the proportion of students leaving school with a year 12 certificate to 83.8 per cent, up from 76.3 per cent in 2022. This would be the highest rate of year 12 certification ever achieved. Under those opposite, guess what happened? Retention rates in schools dropped. That means fewer students finished year 12. Numbers dropped dramatically. They're on their way back under a Labor government, as I would have expected. We're going to increase the proportion of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people aged 20 to 24 attaining year 12 or an equivalent qualification to 96 per cent by 2031. We are setting targets to measure our performance and our schools' performance against.”
“Obviously a question I'm often asked is, 'Which school should I send my child to?' I am often asked that in my community, and my advice to those parents is always the same: 'Go onto the My School website and check out our local schools'—check out the funding models; you can see all of that information. You can also see how those schools are travelling, how they're progressing and how they're value adding or not for local families and local students. So I want to make sure our community is informed about these things. I want to make sure our community understand that this government has the back of every child in our community and, most importantly, every teacher in our school systems, and it has a clear intention for education to improve; it has commitments.”
“If you go to the Commonwealth's My School website you can have a look at all our local schools. You can see how they're funded, who they're funded by and the levels of funding. You can also see their performance against the NAPLAN standards, not just as a raw fix of what happened at that school but also where they sit in terms of advantage and disadvantage and therefore what value adding they're doing in their classrooms. I can tell you, as the proud member for Lalor, that we have public schools kicking way above their weight, doing extraordinary work, with students making two-plus years of progress in the classrooms in our community. So I'd encourage everybody at home to look at that.”
“It left doubt for public schools and for states and territories, because those states and territories weren't guaranteed or given certainty around the level of funding that was going to be provided by the Commonwealth, because they were told they would be left to do all the heavy lifting. In doing this, those opposite baked in disadvantage. They undermined our universal education system. They tried to create hard class barriers that would have meant that, as a society, whether you went to a public or a private school would become a determinant of how far you would go in life. Make no mistake: this was not an accident; this was planned, and it was implemented by the former government. I want to make sure everyone at home knows where they can find all this information.”
“That means that now, in 2025, public school students receive, on average, about $21,376 in SRS funding. That is not met fully by the Commonwealth. But what has happened here is that something that had been set in stone by those opposite has now been removed. Those opposite left government providing certainty for private schools and doubt for public schools, a system where private schools could be assured of 100 per cent of their Student Resource Standard from the Commonwealth while public schools were left with a cap of only 20 per cent allowed from the Commonwealth under law. In no-one's mind was this seen as something that was fair across the country.”
“For the parents watching at home, this is about what we call the Schooling Resource Standard. This is set as a minimum standard, a minimum funding level for every student. It is set at the estimated level of total public funding that each school should receive to meet the educational needs of its students. At the moment, the base per-student amount is $14,467 for a child in primary school and $18,180 for a child in high school. On top of that, there should be funding that goes to loading—loading that's contextualised around need, around location, around school size, around socio-educational disadvantage, around Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students and around students with a disability. It means students from those priority equity cohorts attract additional funding above the base amount, and that varies from school to school.”
“This agreement means that I can be assured that the private schools in my electorate will no longer be funded more generously by the Commonwealth. Where that was happening in some of our private schools locally, I now know that that student resource standard is going to be met in my public schools. I'm going to know that, in all the schools in Lalor, every student is being supported as was envisaged with the Gonski review into school funding. Nothing could be more important than this, because education not only shapes lives but transforms lives. As the member for Lalor I need the certainty that all students in the schools in my electorate are getting their fair share of the resources and also getting resourced to a level that will see them all get the same opportunities. That's what's critically important.”
“I rise to speak today on the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement. Twelve months ago, our minister, Jason Clare, announced that we had all states and territories signed on for the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, a 10-year agreement that fixes public schools' funding once and for all. I want to talk about this today because it's something close to my heart. It's close to my heart as an educator. It's close to my heart as a former principal. It is closer to my heart as the member for Lalor, because I've spent the last 13 years here in the federal parliament, having left schools, and in that time I watched the former coalition government let down my community and let down public schools across this nation. This sets that right.”