TIM WEBSTER: I'm joined on the line by Acting Prime Minister and of course Education Minister as well, Julia Gillard. Good morning Acting PM.
JULIA GILLARD: Good morning Tim.
TIM WEBSTER: And Minister.
JULIA GILLARD: (laugh) Thank you.
TIM WEBSTER: Listen; let's get this story straight first. Are we really talking about ASIO and AFP guarding these schools?
JULIA GILLARD: We're talking about $20 million of resources to keep kids safe at school.
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah.
JULIA GILLARD: And I'm sure every Australian would say every kid in Australian schools should be able to learn and play safely. They shouldn't be at any risk.
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah.
JULIA GILLARD: What we're talking about is, of course, us working with our security people including the AFP, to get the program design right to work out who is at risk. And then the $20 million can go to things that help mitigate that risk; those security measures at the school.
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah, the first thing that occurs to me though is that ASIO and the AFP aren't brought into public schools, though, are they?
JULIA GILLARD: Well we want to make sure kids are safe no matter what school they're in. Obviously in terms of the funding streams, we've got State Government's funding State schools. The Federal Government makes some contribution to State schools. And Federal Government makes contributions to non government schools. We want to make sure wherever you are, you are safe. We would be working with our State and Territory colleagues on circumstances in state schools. We have obviously got this program for circumstances in schools generally. So, we're not drawing any distinctions. We're saying if there is an Australian child at school, then they should be safe when they're learning and safe when they're playing.
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah, no argument about that. But most of these schools receive government funding though - that's the point. Shouldn't they pay for their security themselves?
JULIA GILLARD: Well we don't want education dollars being diverted into security measures. We think security measures should be funded as security measures. Keeping kids safe is a national responsibility, it's a State responsibility too, it's an Australian responsibility. We all want to keep children safe. And that's why we've got a specific source of funds to assist with that. Then when they are safe, we want to make sure they get a quality education...
TIM WEBSTER: Exactly, yeah.
JULIA GILLARD: ...And that's why we've got some very big programs and plans to improve the quality of Australian education.
TIM WEBSTER: Yes, the PM's back on Monday - I'll talk to you about that in a tick. But are you concerned - and I'm reflecting here the thoughts of my listeners, I really am, Minister - about the number of Muslim schools around the country? Some 25 of them, about a dozen in New South Wales and more on the way. Is it too many?
JULIA GILLARD: We have a system in this country where we allow people to choose what style of schooling they want their children to go to. Some people choose for their kids to go to State schools, some want to go to independent schools. I live in Melbourne's west - a lot of people send their kids to Christian schools. Obviously we've had the Catholic system for a long period of time. We all grew up with Catholic kids who went to Catholic schools. In the modern age, obviously we have some Muslim schools as well.
My concern is that parents get to make a choice. But every Australian child, no matter what school they are learning in, gets a high class education. And that's what we are absolutely focussed on delivering.
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah sure. But there have been instances of the curriculum not being followed properly. One in particular in Western Australia. But religious instruction overshadowing regular study - I mean, we can't have that.
JULIA GILLARD: No, we've got to make sure that wherever kids are learning, they are learning a curriculum that is going to equip them for living and working in a modern Australian nation. We of course have our proposal for a National Curriculum Board. That's about driving quality of education, but it's also about the very practical measure that lots of people move interstate. And we don't want children who move from one State to another State to be bewildered in their new school because everything is different...
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah.
JULIA GILLARD: ...And a national curriculum will help smooth those transitions. It's always going to be pretty tough for a young person to move school; you lose your mates and you lose the familiarity of your old school. But we don't want to make it even tougher by you sitting there going, “I haven't learned any of this stuff” or “I did all this stuff two years ago and now I'm bored”.
TIM WEBSTER: OK. Now I'm sure you've heard of all the dramas with the Islamic school being planned for Camden. And lots of local residents have rung me, who object to the new Muslim schools in their area. Are they just misguided? I mean, I know a lot of it is race-based. But a lot of people say, well, you know, you're bringing more people into the area. This is a big school, this one. 1,200 kids. So what's your thoughts on that? I know you've only been in the portfolio a short period of time.
JULIA GILLARD: Well as I understand it, there's a debate about the sort of planning approvals and whether or not that's a sort of appropriate location. That's not a matter for me, obviously. Planning is done at a local community level. And obviously the local community in Camden would be working its way through that. From the point of view of the Federal government generally, we say that parents deserve to have choices about where their kids go to school. That's inherent in the Australian system. And we want to make sure wherever they go, they have a high class, indeed, world class education.
The thing that distressed Kevin; that worried Labor; that caused us to embark on the education revolution, is we saw too many statistics that were saying our education system was falling behind the standards of the rest of the world.
TIM WEBSTER: Absolutely.
JULIA GILLARD: We don't want Australian children to be in the back of the class when it comes to world standards. We want them to be at the front of the class.
TIM WEBSTER: Just quickly on this issue of the funding - I know its State based, most of this, not Federal. But are you concerned - and this is the front page of the Telegraph this morning - that some private schools are getting State money, millions of dollars of it; building cinemas and gyms, while a lot of the public schools struggle with the most basic needs. Now, Glebe public school has been pointed out this morning, about flea-ridden carpets and no air-conditioning. Is it out of kilter?
JULIA GILLARD: I've seen the story in the Telegraph. As I understand it - of course this is a New South Wales government program - but as I understand it, it is a program that is being phased out and has particularly been on its way to being phased out since 2004 for more resourced schools, if I can use that terminology. I think because it was subsidised loan arrangements, obviously they take some period of time to work their way through the system. But it has been on its way out from 2004. I also note that the New South Wales Government says that the money that was provided was always provided for the things that really are necessary for learning like classrooms rather than some of the ancillaries that have been referred to in the story...
TIM WEBSTER: As I say (laugh)...
JULIA GILLARD: So I'm sure all of that will be clarified by the New South Wales government.
TIM WEBSTER: Yes.
JULIA GILLARD: What do I want to see? Well I want to make sure children right around the nation are learning in good facilities. The thing that we're doing to make a real difference there is firstly making sure that secondary school students, years nine to 12, can have access to what really is the learning tool of the 21st century: a computer. And we're going to make sure that every secondary school in the country can give people a trades training experience...
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah.
JULIA GILLARD: ...particularly with the focus on the traditional trades where we are so short on people in our labour market...
TIM WEBSTER: Couldn't agree more with that one.
JULIA GILLARD: Yeah, and where there's, you know, a good life to be made. For kids in secondary school, trades training is a real pathway forward...
TIM WEBSTER: Sure is.
JULIA GILLARD: ...and we want to make sure that there's in their school a way of experiencing all of that.
TIM WEBSTER: OK now, general politics - because you are the Acting PM until Monday. You would have been, I'm sure, quite amused by Peter Costello saying if he was still Treasurer then the banks wouldn't have raised their interest rates.
JULIA GILLARD: Well, Wayne Swan's certainly made some very clear comments about that. I mean, Mr Costello might like to reflect on his record in government. Of course we don't want to recite the past, but Peter Costello has raised it. And Peter Costello, members of the former government, gave reassurances about interest rates in the 2004 election that simply didn't come true for people. We saw interest rates rise - indeed, we saw interest rates rise late last year and that was under the former government.
TIM WEBSTER: Yeah.
JULIA GILLARD: As Treasurer, Wayne Swan has indicated we have inherited a worryingly high inflation environment...
TIM WEBSTER: Yes, it's still there. Yeah.
JULIA GILLARD: We want to make sure we put downwards pressure on inflation. One way of doing that is to make sure we are very prudent with government funds and we will be very prudent in the budget. Another way of doing that is to expand the productive capacity of our economy. And our education revolution is all about valuing Australian children. But it's also an economic plan. Tomorrow's prosperity for this nation depends on people getting a world class education. Whether that's in pre-schools, schools, technical or further education, or universities - we've got to get it all right, if this nation is to be able to hold its head up in the world and compete.
TIM WEBSTER: Yes absolutely. And the Prime Minister gets back on Monday. Is that priority number one for the new government - education? Because I believe it should be.
JULIA GILLARD: Kevin made it clear all last year that the education revolution - his education revolution - is the single biggest priority of the government. And in terms of the things that we've got on with very early - we've already been to Cabinet to get approval for the computers in schools; and we're out talking to the State systems and the Catholic and independent school systems about the delivery of that policy.
Cabinet has already approved the trade training centres so we can get up on to the job of talking to everybody to make sure that that gets done. We had one of our COAG working parties just before Christmas. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, sat down with his State and Territory counterparts to enter a new age of getting things done together, rather than playing the blame game. And one of the big parts of that agenda is the productivity agenda, the education agenda. Making sure we're not at the back of the class anymore in the world.
TIM WEBSTER: Absolutely. Yeah, alright. Well, good luck. Because if it works for you, it works for us (laugh).
JULIA GILLARD: Thanks very much, Tim.
TIM WEBSTER: Thanks Julia. Julia Gillard, of course today and over the weekend, the Acting PM.
ends