Press conference - Fairfield Connect

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks to the mighty Western Sydney University. When I was a little kid growing up in Cabramatta, just down the road from here, decades ago, I remember lots of KFC logos, lots of Macca's logos, Westfield logos, but not a lot of university logos. Lots of Big W shops but not enough of that big W. And I want to see more of it. I want more young people to think in Western Sydney, that, "Hey, uni can be for me too." I want more young people to be on Smart Street in Fairfield. And that's what this is all about.

As a kid growing up in Western Sydney - and you guys know this too - for a lot of our mates, university just seemed like it was too far away and that it was somewhere else for someone else. This is about bringing university closer to us, to our communities, to where people live in the western suburbs of Sydney. But not just that. Also the western suburbs of Brisbane and Melbourne as well. Bringing university closer so more people get that life-changing chance that education can provide.

Alphia, you mentioned this to me when we came in a little bit ago - it was about a year ago that we were here and that we cut the ribbon and opened this launchpad. And it really is a launchpad. And it reminded me that, all those years ago, I got my first job working right here. It wasn't a university launchpad then, it wasn't a Study Hub, it was the Woolies car park. I was collecting shopping trolleys for Woolies. And it's not lost on me that now this is a Study Hub for our local community, where young people out of school can get a chance to do a law degree, or a business degree, or an engineering degree, or maybe medical science. A place that can change your life and a place that can change our community.

About one in two people in their 30s today have a university degree, but not everywhere. Not in the outer suburbs of our big cities, not in the regions and not in the bush. You know, in a place like Fairfield, it's only 12 per cent of the community that has a uni degree today. Mount Druitt, it's about 19 per cent. In Inala, in the western suburbs of Brissie, it's about 12 per cent as well. In Beenleigh, it's about 9 per cent. That's why what we're doing here is important because when you bring university closer to where people live, it makes it a little bit easier to make that decision that, "Hey, I can do this too."

I used to get on the train at Cabramatta and catch it all the way to the city and then get on a bus from Central out to Randwick, it took an hour and a half each way. It was only about 10 minutes to get to Fairfield. As I went past here, I still had another hour and 15 minutes to go. Now, if we can bring university closer to our local communities, then we can change lives and we can change communities. We can help build communities where more people have the qualifications they need to get the jobs that they dream of and build the lives that they want. So, that's what this is about – life-changing stuff.

So, this funding helps to expand this centre, turn a launchpad into a real University Hub. But not just that. As you can see, funding to set up a hub like this in Liverpool as well. We announced one for Macquarie Fields just late last year and then a hub at Mount Druitt and Everton as well. And as I mentioned, Inala and Beenleigh in Queensland. All up, what we're now doing is funding more than 70 of these hubs across the country. About 56 in the regions and the bush, and now, for the first time, 15 in the outer suburbs of our big cities.

But it's not just about the buildings, it's about the lives that we will build and the lives that will change because of this. And I've got to say, the reason this launchpad exists, a big part of the credit goes to Western Sydney University. But, Maryanne, as you pointed out before, it also, a lot of the credit goes to the local representation in this community who fought for it for a very, very long time. And at the head of that is one of my best mates, we've known each other since before we ever had wrinkles or grey hair and we'll be mates forever. He fought for it, he helped make it happen, and I'm so glad that we're able to expand this centre today and turn it into a real University Hub. Can I introduce my friend Chris Bowen.

CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Thanks very much, Jason. Well, when Jason and David and I were here launching Fairfield Connect almost exactly a year ago, since then 7,000 young people have used this facility. Uni students, Western Sydney Uni students, other universities, school students dreaming, wondering whether they could go to university have come through here. And I've got absolutely no doubt, as a result, have thought, "Yes, I can. Yes, I can. I can do this."

And today, Jason has locked in the future of this - I like to call it a campus - this campus of Western Sydney University, made sure it's going to be permanent with this funding and made sure that we can increase the services available here. Mentoring, wrap-around services, wonderful fellow university students, academics talking to young people about how they're going at university or at school, what more they can do, what help, and assistance is there, so they know that on that journey they are not alone. Their family is with them, but their community is with them too, their village is with them. And that's so important. There's always been a gap, in my view, in that wonderful institution of Western Sydney University. Great presences in Parramatta and Campbelltown and elsewhere. Always been a gap at Fairfield, a home to 200,000 people, didn't have a Western Sydney University presence. I decided a little while ago that if we ever got the chance and got back to government, we'd fix that. And with the support of David as the state MP, we made complete pains of ourselves. And I was helped by the fact that Jason and I are Canberra flatmates. So, when he'd finish a hard day in Parliament and he'd get home to our place, he'd open the door and there's me - perhaps with a glass of whisky - saying, "How's that Fairfield Western Sydney Hub going, Jason?" And the last thing he needed after a busy day was hearing from me, so eventually we got there, with Jason's leadership and passion as a fellow Western Sydney kid who got to university and then got to Parliament and then got to Cabinet. That makes a difference.

So, today is a very special day for our community. As has been said, you can't be what you can't see. And it's not just the 7,000 people who have been through. It's the many thousands more who will walk past, maybe six years old, first they've heard of a university, out shopping with Mum and Dad, who think, "Oh, maybe that's for me one day." That's what we're doing here today.

So, I'm just absolutely delighted. Obviously, I welcome as well the Mount Druitt and Liverpool Hubs because Western Sydney is one community. But this Fairfield Hub is the one in Smart Street, which has driven us for a long time and will drive us for a long time to come as we make it bigger and better and it continues to expand and grow. It's become, I think, now an essential part of our community and will continue to be and will grow even more.

So, I want to thank Jason for your leadership and commitment in delivering this $3 million for our community and the money for the other communities as well - $3.5 million, I think - which will see us grow, thrive, and continue to educate and make sure that every Australian child - whether the son of a brain surgeon on Sydney's North Shore or the daughter of a single parent in Cabramatta or Fairfield - can grow to their full potential for themselves and for their country. And that's what we're doing today. So, thank you everyone who works here who has made it a reality. Thank you to everyone who's going to make it a bigger reality. And thank you to Jason and the university for making this a special day for Fairfield. I'm going to hand over to Senator Sheldon, then I think we're going to take a few questions.

TONY SHELDON, SENATOR FOR NSW: Thank you, Chris. And I think that glass of whisky is now two glasses of whisky waiting for him. So, thank you for that announcement for Western Sydney. My previous life to being in the Senate was representing truck drivers and I did that for over 30 years. And most of that work took me throughout Western Sydney, many days and long hours because that's what truck drivers do. They do 12- and 14-hour days. Many of them own their own trucks. And why are they doing that? Because they want to make sure there's something for their kids, for their families, and they're earning an income that will give an opportunity for their families to do good as well and to work hard as they have. But the big disadvantage for anyone in Western Sydney was that there was a lack of university connect. And congratulations to Western Sydney University and to Chris and to Jason.

And Tu Le, for the years I've known Tu Le, is also our candidate for Fowler. Tu has been saying to me as well that we need to make sure that those communities we represent, we work with, have an opportunity for their kids, but also for them, for themselves. Now, for all those truck drivers out there and all those kids of truck drivers, and all those mums and dads out there that have stood by whilst those long hours have been worked, this is what pays off. This is what pays off when community comes together. When governments make decisions and make a real difference for people in a local community. And I can see Barry and [indistinct] and a whole series of people I've worked with for many, many years in my previous life, and I work with now, that are so privileged and so happy to see that Western Sydney is again on the map because of the hard work you've all been doing to deliver this. And for all those families that now have those opportunities, congratulations. And a significant, a significant opportunity for everybody here in the West. So, thanks, Chris. Thanks, Jason. And thanks to Western Sydney University. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: I just wanted to start with education, Jason, if that's alright. When it comes to the final two states, there's hope that a deal would be reached. Well, I guess that's hoped to be done imminently. Are you much closer and is there any chance that they'll be done before the election, whenever that may be?

CLARE: I'm not going to negotiate through the media. But already we've formed agreements, we've signed agreements with Western Australia, with South Australia, with Victoria, with the ACT, with Tasmania and the Northern Territory to fix the funding of public schools. And just as importantly, to tie that funding to real and practical reforms to help kids who fall behind at school, to catch up and to keep up and finish school.

You know, if you don't know already what drives me - and I think you got an idea of it from my comments a moment ago about helping more young people from communities like ours to get to university - it's this. The number of kids finishing high school at the moment is going backwards. And it's not happening everywhere, it's not happening in private schools, it's happening in public schools. It's dropped from 83 per cent to 73 per cent in the last 10 years. And you can draw a connection between that and the billions of dollars that were ripped out of public schools by the last Liberal government.

I want to fix the funding of our schools and I want to tie it to the sort of reforms that are going to help children who fall behind when they're little to catch up and to keep up and to finish high school, and so they get a crack at a place like this, they get a chance to go to TAFE or to go to university. That's what those reforms are about. That's what the reforms that we passed through the Parliament yesterday are also about. That's about making sure that disadvantaged kids who are currently missing out on going to child care, to early education and care, don't miss out.

At the moment, some of the most disadvantaged kids in this country aren't just not finishing school, they're not getting a chance to go to child care. Because of what the Liberal Party put in place when they were in power - something called the Activity Test - it meant that their mum and dads couldn't get access to government-supported child care for their kids. These are the sort of kids who maybe don't see a book until they start kindergarten, all because of changes the Liberal Party made.

Well, we swept that away through the Parliament yesterday. It's designed to make sure that more kids - as Chris said, whether they come from Mosman or whether they come from Fairfield - get the early education they need to start school ready to learn. The funding agreements that we want to strike with the states are about making sure that the same kids finish school. And hubs like this are about making sure that that same young person gets a chance to go to university closer to where they live.

JOURNALIST: Can I just clarify, sorry, on that Activity Test, I heard two conflicting things. Is the entire test scrapped, like, across the board, or is it just those kind of three days?

CLARE: The test as it stands at the moment means that, for some of the most disadvantaged kids in this country, they were only entitled, their parents were only entitled to one day a week of government-supported care. The legislation that passed through the Parliament yesterday strikes that out and provides a three-day guarantee a week for their parents in early education and care. Why three days? Because the Productivity Commission report that we got in the middle of last year, that provides us with a blueprint for how do we build a universal early education and care system for this country, says that's the amount that kids need. Three days a week, or 30 hours a week, of early education and care. That's what's needed to help make sure that all Australia's children get the early education they need to start school ready to learn, to make sure that they all get off to a great start in life.

JOURNALIST: And then the final topic for me was just going back to deepfakes at school. So, we've seen some examples when it comes to - what's it called? - in terms of, like, sexualising classmates with deepfakes. I'm just wondering if there's been any development in that area? I know it's also a state issue, to an extent, but is there anything you're working on through that consent course that you've set up or in terms of Commonwealth legislation that might further capture this? We kind of have patchy legislation in the Commonwealth level and state levels.

CLARE: This is terrifying. I can't think of anything worse for a young student, in particular young Australian women, than if AI was used to do this to you. It's just simply terrifying. There are three things that we're doing, Dom. First is the legislation that passed through the Parliament in August last year that criminalises this, that sets serious criminal penalties for this sort of behaviour. Up to seven years in jail.

The second is the extra funding that we're providing to the eSafety Commissioner to make sure that she has the resources that she needs to crack down and stamp this out. And then the third is education, what we do in our schools and making sure that we provide the resources to the states and to schools to educate young people, in particular boys and young men, to make it very clear to them what this is and the fact that this is not on.

We've provided about $70-odd million to the states. That consent and respectful relationships education funding is now there and those programs are rolling out in schools right across the country. And one part of that is exactly this.

JOURNALIST: Thanks for that, mate. That's all from me.

CLARE: No worries. I think that might be it. Great. Thanks, guys.