Interview - ABC News Breakfast

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Time to talk federal politics now. And we're joined by the Education Minister, Jason Clare, from Parliament House in Canberra. Minister, good morning.

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Good morning, Emma.

REBELLATO: I'd like to start by asking you about this train crash in Spain. Do we know if any Australians were on board?

CLARE: No, we don't. The Department of Foreign Affairs are not aware at this point in time that there are any Australians involved. But as you would expect, we've got consular officials there in Spain that stand ready to help any Australians and any Australian families if they are affected. I think the whole country is in shock at the moment, seeing these images on our screens. It's just horrific. In my own neck of the woods in Sydney, I'm thinking of the Granville train disaster, which was 50 years ago in January of next year, not too far away. Similar number of lives lost and people injured. And every year we get back together at the same site, and I meet the people who were in that awful train disaster, whose lives were changed and transformed, people who lost their loved ones as well. This is something that people never, ever recover from.

REBELLATO: Minister, let's turn to inflation now, because it is what everybody is talking about. I think most people would look at the figures yesterday and say, well, we're being hit again. And it's what we know. We go to the shops. Our money doesn't go as far. If you've got a home loan, you're looking at a potential rate rise next week as well. It is absolutely relentless at the moment. You're a government frontbencher. Does the government get it? Does the government really know how hard it is for people right now?

CLARE: I think everybody does. Like anybody that goes to the petrol station, anybody that goes to the shops, anybody that sees the number that gets spit out at the checkout understands that. But I think Australians also understand what's manifesting this. The biggest number that went up yesterday was petrol. It went up by 24 per cent in the last 12 months. You know, the reason petrol's going up is the same reason it's gone up in America. It's because of the war. Aussies understand that, we don't make petrol in Australia. And in between where it's made and where it comes out of the petrol station, there's a war going on. And I reckon every Australian, is hoping that this bloody thing will end because we're paying the price for it.

REBELLATO: Minister, we know domestic pressures are also a factor here, the RBA Governor has said as much as well. People are looking for the Government for help. They're looking for the government- to the government for leadership. Do you think people can actually handle much more?

CLARE: Well, it is our responsibility as the government, not just to understand the pressures that Aussies are under, but to take responsible action to help. That’s why things like tax cuts are important. That's why making it easy to buy a home is important. But the biggest thing, Emma, and I don't know if anyone will disagree with this, the biggest thing that will help here to get inflation down, to take pressure off Australians, is if the price of petrol is a bit less. And guess how that happens? If the war ends.

REBELLATO: Would the government revisit the fuel excise then to bring petrol down for Australians, for people driving their cars for transport as well?

CLARE: Well, it's not something that we're considering at the moment, but if you want to get the price of petrol down, the argument I'm making is: end the war. It's about two bucks 40 a litre at the moment. If you go back two years ago, before the war started, it's about a buck 80. So, it's gone up about 24 per cent the last 12 months, but more than that over the last two years. And it's Australians that are paying the price for all of that.

REBELLATO: Minister, Education Ministers are meeting on Monday. You're looking at a digital detox for our kids in schools. We know some states and some schools are looking at trials at the moment. But what does this look like for you? Do you want to see changes across the board?

CLARE: Well, I think mums and dads do too. Most parents who've got kids at home, particularly ones that might have an iPad in their hands, know that these things can turn them into little zombies and fry their attention spans. But for a long time we've thought school's different, that at school, technology can help you to learn. There's mounting evidence that that's not always the case. We've got a report now from Macquarie University that tells us that for Year 11 and 12 kids, they're spending about an hour and a half a day at school online, looking at things that have got nothing to do with school. Googling or gaming, watching TV, sending messages to friends. That's why I'm making the argument that we need to wind this back a bit. A bit of a digital detox. It can involve potentially a couple of things. One of the things we're looking at is whether, with the NAPLAN test, we bring some of that back to pen and paper, particularly the writing part of it, particularly for primary school kids. We're also looking at screen time limits. NSW has already announced they're going to do it. Victoria has said that too, and WA are piloting it. But we're also looking at the impact of artificial intelligence and the impact that's having on our kids. We don't give our kids calculators in kindergarten, and there's a reason for that. They've got to build those mental muscles; they've got to learn how to count before you give them a tool to do it at speed. And so, I think there's a good argument that we've got to look at how AI works and how it's not working. There was a study in China recently that showed that kids using AI, their exam results went down by 20 per cent. So, there's a lot to talk about when we get together on Monday.

REBELLATO: Minister, looking ahead into a couple of weeks' time as well, we've seen huge student-led protests overseas. Well, here in Australia, students are planning to protest on the 11th of November, which is Remembrance Day. What do you say to that? What is your reaction to news that they will be protesting on that day?

CLARE: Go to school. Right. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. These are days to go to school. If you want to protest, there's two days of the week where you can fill your boots. That's Saturday and Sunday. But whatever the day it is, you don't do this on Remembrance Day, a day where for at least one minute, it's not too much to ask to expect Australians to stop and remember the sort of sacrifices that other Australians made for us. I don't need reminding of that. My great-grandfather fought at Gallipoli. I had one grandfather who was a prisoner of war of the Nazis. The other was cut down by the Japanese in Papua New Guinea and got back up again and fought for Australia in Vietnam. This is a sacred day for Australians. 

So, my message to students is: put down the loud hailer, pick up the poppy. 

The least that all of us can do is just for at least one minute on this sacred day, remember the sort of sacrifices that people like that made for us so that we can live in the best country in the world.

REBELLATO: Minister Jason Clare, thank you.

CLARE: Thank you.