Thursday, 24 September 2026

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:26): (2857) My last adjournment question in the 60th Parliament is for the Minister for Education. This Labor government has failed Victorian families. How can this government call this the Education State when one-third of our students are struggling to meet basic standards in English and maths and up to 40 per cent are not equipped with basic grammar and punctuation skills? This Andrews–Allan–Carroll Labor government has neglected students by failing to focus on core literacy and numeracy skills, and it has burdened teachers with heavy workloads, delayed overdue pay rises and forced them to teach contentious content without the knowledge or consent of parents.

The Liberal–National coalition has a plan to deliver excellence in education, to support students to excel in literacy and numeracy, to declutter the curriculum and to help build resilience to better prepare students for life. A Wilson-led government will establish three new select entry schools to meet high and currently unmet demand, with one potentially being located in the south-east around Langwarrin, Cranbourne South or surrounding suburbs. In addition to these three new select entry schools, we will also have six existing schools chosen to become fully or partially select entry. This will be determined through local community consultations and will give more students greater opportunities to achieve excellence and their full potential. The coalition government will provide more support for teachers and evidence-based learning in every classroom. Contrary to some comments of some of the Labor MPs, I, as a Liberal MP, along with my family, have fought very hard to see teachers wages rise and their conditions improve to become more flexible and fair.

Some Victorian teachers have left the profession because they do not want to discuss inappropriate sexualised content or enforce gender theory with children in our classrooms, and local parents and teachers have spoken of their concerns and distress about what their children have discussed in school. One Cranbourne Pakistani mother said to me, ‘We brought our children to this country to give them a good education.’ She said this while holding up a highly sexualised image from the curriculum her primary school son had. And she said, angrily, ‘This is not a good education. We did not come here for this.’ I must admit I was ashamed of what she showed me. It was inappropriate.

The action I seek, Minister, is for an independent, data-driven inquiry into the Safe Schools and Respectful Relationships programs in Victorian schools to ensure there is no avenue to allow paedophiles to groom students for sexual and emotional abuse with this curriculum. An effective curriculum against bullying that teaches human dignity and respect should not put children and minors at risk of being sexualised or expect them to keep secrets from their parents about what they are being taught. Families deserve to have their voices heard, particularly when it comes to protecting their children. This Labor government has ignored parents and teachers for too long. It has failed them, and Victorians are simply fed up.