Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (18:02): I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Education and Training Reform Amendment Bill 2024, which will improve how Victorian schools are regulated and run. I welcome the opposition’s support for this bill, because it is, as the member for Sandringham said in his contribution, a very commonsense and sensible bill.

Like so many people in this chamber that have contributed to this debate before me, I too would like to pass on my love and support to the Auburn South Primary School community following yesterday’s tragedy. I offer my deepest sympathies to the principal, teachers, support staff, students, families and everyone impacted by the incident.

As a former teacher and proud Independent Education Union Victoria Tasmania member, I would like to thank all the educators across my electorate for their commitment and contribution to high-quality teaching and learning and the huge investment they make every day to support students across Ballarat. Speaking from experience, the job goes well beyond the classroom door and the end-of-the-day school bell, and our government knows this. That is why we are proud to be supporting breakfast clubs, free glasses for kids, prep bags and of course our wonderful Smile Squad.

I want to also send my very best wishes to the year 12 students undertaking their VCE exams, particularly the wonderful year 6 students who I taught in 2018 before being elected to this place. They are now completing their schooling, and I cannot wait to see what is next for them and the pathways they pursue.

Our Minister for Education is an excellent minister. He is taking on the portfolio and all its challenges with every ounce of energy and determination, and we are seeing this in the reforms that are coming across. I would really like to thank the Minister for Education, his outstanding ministerial office and the Department of Education, as well as the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions for their efforts in bringing this bill to the house in consultation with stakeholders. This has included the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, which I will refer to a number of times throughout my contribution, the VRQA, whose powers will be improved by the proposed amendments.

This bill also includes other educational authorities such as the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, the Victorian Institute of Teaching and the new Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership; education boards, including the Adult, Community and Further Education Board and the board of AMES Australia; the Department of Justice and Community Safety regarding updates to particular penalties; and educational peak bodies such as Independent Schools of Victoria and the Victorian Catholic Education Authority.

I am dedicated to ensuring that students at all levels, in Wendouree and across the state of Victoria, have continued access to quality educational opportunities that deliver strong educational outcomes. I recently had the opportunity to join the Minister for Education at Ballarat Specialist School to celebrate the opening of new buildings at their Gillies Street campus, which was made possible thanks to a $10 million investment by the Allan Labor government.

Ballarat Specialist School is just one specialist school amongst every other specialist school across the state that we are investing in and improving. We are also locally funding facility upgrades at the wonderful Forest Street Primary School, which I am going to be opening too on Friday, as well as building a wonderful new senior centre at Mount Rowan Secondary College in Wendouree.

More than two dozen Catholic schools in regional Victoria will also share in $103 million to build, expand and modernise their facilities, including the beautiful school in Wendouree, Our Lady Help of Christians. We are getting a new Catholic primary school in Winter Valley, which will be so well received by the community, when you look at the numbers of people at Lumen Christi as well as at St Thomas More and Siena. The Allan Labor government also provided $2 million to support the construction of the magnificent St Patrick’s College performing arts centre from the Non-Government Schools Capital Fund. This is why we are the Education State.

But there is more, particularly for our amazing teachers and school leadership teams with the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership in our beautiful new state-of-the-art building in Camp Street, Ballarat, which provides our hardworking teachers and school leaders with a place to do professional development and further develop their professional practice close to home. Previously they had to jump on a train to Melbourne and jump on a train home. We are shortening their day by about four hours, and they can do all their training right in the heart of Ballarat.

Why are we introducing this bill? We are doing this because we want to ensure that our schools are regulated effectively, and this bill today proposes several amendments to the Education and Training Reform Act of 2006. Together these will work to update the powers of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, the regulatory body for Victorian education and training providers; improve the regulations surrounding work experience arrangements, thereby easing the administrative burden on our very hardworking principals; and, finally, clarify and standardise other provisions across the act.

One of the core purposes of this legislation that we have before us is to address the VRQA’s ability to act in instances where schools are suspected of operating while unregistered. At present the VRQA may engage and request information from organisations suspected of breaching registration requirements. However, in cases of suspected noncompliance, prosecution is often the only option available. This is a resource-intensive process, which should be the last option, not the primary option. With the proposed changes to the VRQA, the VRQA will be empowered to compel the production of relevant documents and information from suspected unregistered or unapproved providers. Individuals and bodies that require registration or approval by the VRQA may include those operating a school, a school boarding premises or an educational and training organisation, as well as those providing senior secondary qualifications, specific courses to overseas students and student exchange programs.

Under the new framework the VRQA may issue a notice to produce to gather evidence necessary for identifying organisations operating in breach of regulations. They will also have the option of issuing a notice to comply to those which they reasonably believe are operating without the required registration or approval. In cases of noncompliance with these notices, the bill also provides for formal warnings as well as court-issued declarations, pecuniary penalties and injunctions, in addition to prosecutions.

At the same time, this bill also proposes to increase the maximum penalties for conducting an unregistered school or school boarding premises. Currently this sits at 10 penalty units, equating to less than $2000, which is inadequate as a deterrent and insufficient to justify prosecution. The proposed penalties are better in line with comparable offences with a maximum of 120 penalty units for an individual and 600 for a body corporate. By increasing penalties and therefore better incentivising registration, in addition to broadening the VRQA’s ability to compel information, this bill will further ensure that Victorian schools are providing a quality education to students in our state, which we would all agree is what is most important.

The bill also further clarifies the information-sharing provisions in the act and removes the onerous expectation for requests to be made in writing. The VRQA may share information with specified persons or bodies such as government departments and agencies, public sector bodies and municipal councils. This will facilitate important communications concerning the performance of educational entities. The proposed amendments will not substantively change the scope of this information sharing but will rather clear up potentially confusing elements within the current provisions.

Whilst I was going to go into procedural fairness and stuff like that, I did just want to mention the importance of work experience, which is another core improvement of this bill – how schools organise work experience and structured workplace learning placements. My daughter Johanna, who is in year ‍10 this year, had a fantastic opportunity to do work experience at the Ballarat art gallery. It really opened her eyes to creative industries and future pathways into creative industries in Victoria, and that is what work experience is all about.

Over the last six years I have welcomed the opportunity to have work experience students spend a week in the electorate office and here at Parliament, although I do feel that often I learn more from the students than they learn from me in those weeks. I look forward to welcoming another work experience student next month and really encouraging their love of civics and the important role of Parliament and government.

Currently our hardworking principals are personally required to make these arrangements, which can impose a substantial administrative burden. The proposed amendments lay out an alternative where a principal may nominate another member of staff to take on this responsibility instead, which is really important for building relationships with careers counsellors and encouraging vocational discussions with students.

In closing, I welcome the introduction of the bill and commend it to the house.

You can take a look at more of my contributions to Parliament here.