INVESTMENTS into education and health are key to improving the lives of Tasmanians, deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said while in Launceston on Monday.
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On the first full day of campaigning since an election date was set, Ms Plibersek said investment into education was not simply about giving individual children a better start in life, it was about growing our society.
She outlined her strong support for increased funding to lower socio-economic areas, such as Northern Tasmania, the relocation of the University of Tasmania and support for parents with pre-school aged children.
Ms Plibersek spent her afternoon at Newstead’s Goodstart Early Learning, making her disappointment over the pushed back rollout of childcare funding announced in last week’s federal budget clear.
The government's $3 billion childcare package had been intended to start from July 2017 but was deferred until the middle of 2018.
Ms Plibersek said this lack of funding would not only financially burden families, but could force some parents out of childcare.
“We know it’s tough for [families] to afford it, we know that there’s a lot of areas where it’s hard to find childcare,” she said.
“We know that having more women in the workforce is good for the economy, it’s good for growth, but no family’s going to leave their child if they can’t find [childcare] or can’t afford it.”
It was announced in the federal budget that although a full rollout of the deregulation of university fees was off the table, some universities could still be affected by the change.
Ms Plibersek said she was “appalled” that students might have to pay more for their higher education.
“You can’t talk about being an innovation nation unless you invest in education,” she said.
“We don’t want to be the sort of country where you have to have rich parents to be able to afford to go to university.
“Young people are faced with $100,000 university fees at the same time as they’re faced with out of control housing prices.”
Ms Plibersek threw her support behind the relocation of UTAS, not just for the benefit of students, but for the construction jobs it would create.
“You don’t want kids from Launceston or from Northern Tasmania having to go away to get an education,” she said.
