School Reform

The Gillard Labor Government’s vision is to make every school a great school – because in the 21st century, a great school and a great education are the keys that unlock an individual’s potential and the nation’s future. Only with world class schools can we build a high-productivity, high-participation economy that gives all Australians the opportunity of rewarding and satisfying work.

In government, Labor is delivering ambitious reforms that are already changing Australia’s schools – achieving more for our schools in less than three years than the Coalition delivered in almost 12.

The Government is making major investments to reverse the under-funding that has held our schools back for too long – doubling the funding for Australian schools, because we know that no other investment will generate the enduring, long-term returns like our investment in our human capital.

Consider this: a child who is 5 years old today is likely to still be in the workforce through to the 2070s. The quality of their schooling now will make a difference to what they learn and whether they achieve their potential across the span of their working life.

That means that the investment we make in great schools today will be paying dividends for most of the century ahead through higher participation, stronger productivity and increased economic growth.

That is why the Government has invested in modernising infrastructure with the Building the Education Revolution program and Trade Training Centres – together with our investments in improving teacher quality.

Alongside our additional investments, the Gillard Labor Government is undertaking major reforms – with the goal of making Australia’s schools among the best in the world so we can compete successfully with countries like Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong.

Creating world class schools is at the heart of 21st century microeconomic reform – it is every bit as important as Labor’s past big economic reforms like tariff cuts, industry deregulation, national competition policy and enterprise bargaining.

The sectors in the economy that need renewal and reform are the services that were relatively untouched by the big economic reform era of the Hawke and Keating governments – sectors like education and health, which are largely delivered within the domestic economy.

The education and health sectors include schools, universities, hospitals and aged care facilities – with a diverse range of providers from the public, private and non-government sectors, and services where competition and value are often held back by jurisdictional red tape and the lack of seamless national markets.