While the Green-Labor Government has an agenda to close schools, a majority Liberal Hodgman Government has a policy to invest in them and the future of our children.

Our high schools to year 12 policy is about increasing year 12 completion rates which are currently the worst in the nation, and creating a job ready generation. It is also about changing the Tasmanian perception that school finishes at year 10.

Current secondary school capacity figures show that there is under-utilised space in many of our high schools, particularly those in rural and regional areas where the policy will be rolled-out first.

While claims that our high schools can’t accommodate Years 11 and 12 are a welcome acknowledgement that the policy will mean more students completing year 12, they are also flawed, because they are based on the false assumption that Colleges will close.

As we have repeatedly said, Colleges will not close.

For those schools which will need an investment in infrastructure, we have shown we are serious by setting aside $60 million dollars in our Alternative Budget to begin that process.

As is always the case, we will provide full costings prior to the next election, and after the current consultation stage with school communities which we have commenced. We will not rush this consultation.

The Green-Labor Government may not be prepared to invest in the future of our children, well we say we can’t afford not to.

Research shows that increased participation in education produces outcomes such as higher wages, increased likelihood of labor force participation, health benefits, increased life satisfaction and reduced offending behaviour and crime.

I am not prepared to see another generation of Tasmanians left on the scrap heap because they don’t have the qualifications or skills needed to get a job.

We are already engaging with communities and we will continue to do so, it is important that what is implemented is responsive to individual community needs and therefore supported by that community – we are not proposing a one size fits all model and so it is wrong to pre-empt what resourcing requirements specific schools will require.

Brian Wightman’s claim that the Liberals’ visionary 7-12 high school policy would require major expansions of our high schools has been exposed as a deliberate deception, following the release of Education Department figures about high school utilisation and capacity on the North West Coast.

These figures, revealed in today’s Advocate, confirm what the Liberals’ already know - that the majority of Tasmanian high schools in the North West have the space right now to accommodate year 11 and 12 students. They also provide a valuable snapshot into the under utilisation of Tasmanian high schools state-wide.

Mr Wightman’s scare tactic that colleges will close under the Liberals is another deceit. As we have consistently stated, no college will close, but their function may change; we believe colleges are needed to maintain maximum choice and career pathways for Tasmanian students.

The Liberals’ visionary policy to extend high schools to year 12 within a decade of taking office would not only address Tasmania’s embarrassingly low year 12 completion rate, it would also see many high schools attracting the student numbers for which they were originally built.

On the one hand the Government is running around saying our schools are only 60 per cent full to justify their policy of forced closures; now they’re trying to claim that they’re all overflowing!

The Government is obviously running scared that the Liberals’ are proposing a policy to address education issues that Labor has consistently failed to address for over a decade.

The Liberals’ visionary high schools to year 12 policy is a common sense and long term approach to tackling our low year 12 completion rate, and would also bring Tasmania in line with every other state in Australia.

It is no coincidence that we are the only state in the country where high school ends at year 10, and we have the lowest year 12 completion rates.

We make no apologies about wanting to improve the education standards of our students – unlike Labor and the Greens, whose only school reform is looking at which ones to shut.

The Tasmanian Liberals believe that by extending high schools through to year 12, we can begin to improve retention and make sure Tasmanians have the skills and qualifications to succeed.

The fact that the Government wants to talk about our visionary high schools policy just highlights their own lack of ideas to improve our education system. In fact the only education reform they are currently considering is how many schools to shut down.

The Government has criticised our policy today, bizarrely claiming that it will lead to an increase in the number of students attending high school. Of course it will lead to an increase in the number of students, that’s the whole point of our school retention policy.

It’s disappointing that the Government would view more students staying at school as a negative, but it simply shows how out of touch they are.

More students would require more investment in school infrastructure. That’s why in our Alternative Budget we identified $60 million that would be used to invest in our schools.

Our plan would see high schools gradually extend to year 12 over a 10 year period starting with regional and rural communities where school retention is a significant issue.

This isn’t the sort of reform that you can rush and it has to be done in consultation with the community. We have already begun the consultation process and have been pleased with the positive response, including support from the University of Tasmania.

We make no apologies about wanting to improve the education standards of our students – unlike Labor and the Greens, who are apparently satisfied with us having the lowest year 12 completion rates in the country.

We want to grow the economy, and key to that is to improving Tasmania’s education standards, which are currently at the bottom of the ladder.

It is no coincidence that we are the only state in the country where high school ends at year 10 – and we have the lowest year 12 completion rate.

As we’ve consistently said, no colleges will close, but their functions may change – for example, some may remain focused on years 11 and 12, others might cater for years 9-12 and others might become 7-12 high schools.

Instead of trying to take the cheap shot, the Government should outline precisely how they are going to improve school retention rates after 13 years of failure and a litany of disastrous education system experiments.

A Hodgman Liberal Government would provide up to $200,000 in annual funding to ensure that Bravehearts’ can implement their student safety program into Tasmanian schools statewide, with certainty.

It is very timely to make this commitment at the start of National Child Protection Week.

Supporting Bravehearts’ “Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventures” school-based program is a way of reducing child sexual abuse rates by focusing on prevention through education and awareness.

It is a sobering fact that current research shows 1 in 5 children will be sexually assaulted before the age of 18. 

The Bravehearts’ “Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventures” school-based program is proven and research-based with the objective being of educating, empowering and protecting children by providing them with the skills and understanding to be safe.

External evaluations in other States have found the program has the potential to reduce child sexual assault by up to 50 per cent.

The Bravehearts’ program was trialled in Tasmania in 2010 and an evaluation showed extremely positive feedback from teachers and parents, with 98.5 per cent recommending the program for all primary school students.

While the State Green-Labor Government has indicated it will not fund the Bravehearts’ program, we believe the costs of not educating children on sexual assault prevention strategies is far greater than the monetary commitment required.

The program costs around $10 a child yet an Australian study conservatively estimates the cost to society of child sexual assault to be in excess of $180,000 per child.

By funding Bravehearts, the Liberals are demonstrating our commitment to keeping Tasmanian children safe.

The Liberals welcome the launch today of the Public Education Alliance, however it is a damning indictment on the Green-Labor Government that the formation of such a group is even necessary.

We have a Green Education Minister who made $200 million in education promises prior to the last election, and instead has delivered cuts of $190 million. Mr McKim has further eroded public confidence in his abilities as Education Minister with a hit-list of schools for closure that has been delayed, not abandoned.

Sadly the Liberals are now the only party with a commitment to invest in education. We see education as a priority, not a savings opportunity.

In the Liberals’ Alternative Budget we spelt out a vision to improve education outcomes, address retention issues and save our schools.

In Government the Liberals will:

• Not forcibly close schools
• Implement a four-term school year
• Create a $60 million Education Investment and School Retention Fund from savings identified in other areas across Government. This fund would be available to keep open schools that Labor and the Greens want to forcibly close. This fund would also allow for a much needed investment in secondary education and to tackle what are the worst post year 10 retention rates in the nation.
• Extend High Schools to year 12

Under a Hodgman Liberal Government, Tasmanian High Schools will go up to year 12 within a decade of being elected to office.  The Liberal policy for year 7-12 high schools will address our retention black hole and will build a job ready generation.

Such substantial but necessary reform won’t take place overnight, and after a decade of Labor experiment it is essential that we get it right at a sensible pace and take the community with us.

We will start by expanding the offering of vocational, year 11 and 12 subjects in rural and regional high schools. We will then move to gradually expand secondary education to year 12 in major population centres.

Under our visionary plan, city based colleges will not close or be sold, instead they could be retained as places of year 11-12 and adult skills and academic training – depending on the needs of local communities.

Children should not be made to pay for the Green-Labor Government’s financial incompetence. I look forward to working with the new Public Education Alliance to highlight the importance of investing in education, instead of cutting it to the bone.